Hanging by a Thread
by Jgirl53
Summary: When Batman assigns another mission for the Team, all seems to be normal. Until things take a turn for the worst when Sportsmaster lashes out at his youngest daughter. Cover by RealityChik on deviantArt. *I don't own Young Justice*
1. Hanging by a Branch

Batman's voice rang out though the mountain, calling the Team in for a mission briefing. The Team had been watching a scary movie and Batman's voice nearly scared them out of their wits. When they had finally recovered they raced to the main room for the briefing.

All changed into hero garb they awaited the details of their next mission.

"The League of Shadows has arranged a meeting with certain villains who have been popping up on our radar lately. The Joker, Poison Ivy, and Scarecrow are supposed to meet with Sportsmaster, Cheshire, and Black Spider at midnight in Star City."

Artemis froze up at the mention of her dad and sister. She still hadn't told the team that she was related to supervillains. It was just a bad idea to even come close to the topic.

Robin spoke up, "Joker, Ivy, and Scarecrow are all typical Gotham villains, what's making them stray so far from home?"

"That's what you are to find out. Intercept the parcels that are being traded between the groups. If possible, avoid a fight. You may have taken these villains on before, but together they are hard hitters." With that the Bats left, leaving the team to plan what to do.

"Who's Scarecrow?" Rocket asked.

"A villain to watch out for. With one inhale of his fear gas you are down for the count. It's not a fun experience." Robin shivered as if reliving a fear gas episode.

"That raises another question. What's fear gas?"

"Fear gas has its name for a reason. It makes you hallucinate and have your worst fears come to life. It can get into a person's blood stream in seconds, making it extremely effective and volatile."

"That is why we must remain vigilant." Aqualad said walking to the front of the group. "There are six of them and eight of us, which does not necessarily mean we have the advantage. The League of Shadows always seems to have an extra card up their sleeve, do not expect tonight to be any different."

Artemis mumbled under her breath, "You don't have to tell me."

Superboy turned around and shot a glance her way. He received a glare in return and turned back to looking at Kaldur.

"It is best to scout out the location ahead of time, we shall head out in five minutes. Please prepare the bio-ship M'gann." Aqualad finished the briefing and jogged off to do whatever he needed to do in five minutes.

The Team was flying to Star City at 11 P.M. while making good time. Aqualad was determining who would take what positions around the park in which the meeting would take place. Artemis and Robin were to hide in trees in the park near each other. Kid Flash and Conner were to be waiting around the edges of the park on the east side on the roofs of nearby buildings. Aqualad was to stay by the entrance to the small stream running through the park. Miss Martian would stay in the bio-ship with Rocket and Zatanna and advise the team as to when the villains appear and advise when the packages were in sight.

Before exiting the bio-ship they were linked up with telepathy.

With each member knowing their duty they ran to their locations and stayed firmly there, waiting for midnight.

Aqualad's voice rang through everybody's heads. 'Confirm position.'

'In a tree overlooking the main fountain.' Robin confirmed.

'Same here.' Artemis thought.

'On top of a bakery with Supey, clear view of the main fountain.' KF thought until he became distracted with the idea of all the treats under his feet.

'In the sky with Rocket and Zatanna, camouflage mode activated.' Miss Martian confirmed.

'Now we wait.'

The team didn't have to wait too long. Within a half hour the Gotham Villains arrived holding a large cardboard box. The Joker wouldn't shut up. He just kept telling horrible joke after horrible joke with no reaction from Ivy or Scarecrow.

'Robin, was Joker always this bad at comedy? He's worse than Wally.' Artemis communicated with Robin telepathically.

'You don't know the half of it. There's a reason the name was self appointed.'

'I bet you appreciate my humor even more now.' Wally thought, feeling full of himself.

'Better watch it Baywatch. Your ego can only get so big.' Artemis quipped back at the speedster.

KF was about to say something but was cut off by Miss Martian. 'The Shadows are here. Approaching from the south end of the park.'

'Artemis, Robin, do not engage until instructed. Stay inconspicuous.' Aqualad warned.

'Relax Kal, trained in the ways of the ninja here.' Robin responded.

Robin and Artemis watched Cheshire, Sportsmaster, and Black Spider approach to the fountain. Unaware of the young heroes lying in wait. Sportsmaster took the lead in talking to the other villains, Cheshire by his side and Black Spider seemingly only there for extra muscle.

"Do you have the gas?" Sportsmaster's deep voice boomed across the park.

The Joker stepped forward, "Take a look for yourself, Sporty." Scarecrow opened the box to reveal multiple vials of a yellow colored substance.

'That's fear gas! There are hundreds of vials in that box, at least!' Robin cried out to the Team.

'Are you sure Robin?' Aqualad reprimanded.

'Positive! Just look at Scarecrow's belt, he has a few vials there.'

'Then we must stop this now. Artemis, Robin, be prepared for first strike on my mark. Superboy, Kid Flash, be ready to help them.'

Artemis pulled an arrow from her quiver to set in her bow. The arrowhead slightly knocked against the bark of the tree trunk behind her. Her eyes widened as Ivy's head snapped in her direction. 'Oh, shit.' Artemis thought to herself.

Ivy stared at the tree Artemis was in. "It appears we have a spy here who doesn't appreciate nature."

The branch Artemis was perched on suddenly wrapped around her ankle with a groan. Causing her to fall from the tree, only being supported by her wrapped ankle. All her arrows fell from her quiver and her bow was rendered useless. Not to mention most of the arrows were subject to detonate on impact so she was filled with an air of explosions and multiple other kinds of gasses. It roughed her up a little bit, the only thing that saved her was her height from the ground. Sportsmaster approached her first with calculating eyes.

"So this is what my dear daughter had been reduced down to. Hiding in trees and playing hero." Sportmaster joked coldly.

'Robin, accelerate the plan, attack now! Superboy, Kid Flash, engage now!' Aqualad ordered, jumping into action himself. 'Zatanna, free Artemis. Rocket and Miss Martian, help us out.'

The boys ran into action against the villains. Robin took on the Joker while KF barreled towards Cheshire. Superboy fought against Black Spider, doing his best to avoid the webs. Aqualad whipped water at Scarecrow who was reaching for vials of fear gas.

The girls exited their ship and ensued into the mayhem. Rocket encased Ivy in a bubble, not seeing the vines creeping up behind her. Miss Martian ripped the vines apart and helped Rocket take on Ivy.

Sportsmaster was raising a spear aimed at Artemis when Zatanna entered the situation. Just as the spear left his hand Zatanna yelled out a spell and made the spear stop in mid-air, inches away from Artemis. Sportsmaster raised a button in his left hand and the middle of the spear exploded, sending the front end into Artemis's abdomen and the back end flying off into an empty spot in the park.

Artemis gave a little grunt as blood started trickling towards the ground.

Zatanna screamed out in horror. The next moments seemed to go in slow motion. Cheshire was the first to spot what had happened and saw her little sister hanging from a tree with part of a spear sticking out her front and back. She froze for a moment before charging Sportsmaster.

"You bastard!" She cried out as she began slashing the air around Sportsmaster. Never landing one blow.

Kid Flash was the next to react since he no longer had anyone to fight. He raced towards Artemis, she had died once before his eyes and he wasn't going to let it happen again. Simulation or not. And this most defiantly was real.

'Artemis needs medical attention, NOW!' Kid Flash yelled out at the team. Except for Zatanna they were all too preoccupied with their own villains to help at the moment. 'Zatanna, get your ass over here and help me get her down.'

Zatanna responded immediately to the harshness of Wally. KF reached Artemis first, noticing her paling more with every second as the blood pool beneath her grew. Soon Zatanna was reciting spell after spell to break the branch until finally one worked. Artemis fell a few feet into Wally's waiting arms.

He held on to the archer carefully, to not jostle her any more than necessary. "Come on Arty stay with me here. Call me Kid Idiot, Baywatch, something, just show you're still there." He shook her gently as her eyelids started to flutter closed. 'Megan, we need to leave now. Arty can't hang on much longer.'

Robin hit his final blow on the Joker and knocked him into the fountain, unconscious. He took the opportunity to see what he was too busy to see earlier. He saw Wally carrying a very wounded and barely alive Artemis.

'Miss Martian, we need to end this now.' Robin called out mentally. 'Artemis seriously won't be able to hang on much longer.'

'I'm fine guys,' Artemis's weak message ran through their heads.

Wally held her tighter as the bio-ship floated down. 'That's bullshit. Now just hang on until we can get to the mountain.'

'Miss Martian, go with Kid Flash and Artemis, take them back to the mountain. Zatanna and Robin, stay and help us now. We can go to the Mountain when this is over.' Aqualad ordered firmly.

'But I can treat her on the way there as much as possible.' Robin mentally yelled back at Aqualad.

'Then do it, we are losing too many teammates to win this fight. Kid, you stay behind as Robin goes.'

'But-' Wally tried to argue.

'Kid, the matter is settled. Give Artemis to Miss Martian and finish this fight.' Aqualad's order was the last.

Miss Martian levitated Artemis out of Wally's arms and flew to the bio-ship. Robin grabbed the box of fear gas and bounded off after her. When they were safely inside Robin dropped the box on the floor and instructed MM to levitate Artemis to the table in the back of the ship. Once that was done he ordered her to fly back to the mountain as fast as possible and alert the Med Bay.

Even at the top speed it was still a ten minute flight to the mountain. The doctors were alerted and waiting. At the back of the ship Robin's hand reached for her limp wrists to check for a pulse. It was barely there and her breathing was shallow. The spear most likely pierced a lung.

He dropped her wrist as gently as possible and did what he could for her. Her hand hit the table with a thud and was white and very cold, not a good sign.

With what seemed forever the bio-ship finally made it back to Mt. Justice. There were doctors waiting with a stretcher that they took Artemis away on. Batman was waiting there, having also been alerted of the news. He sent Miss Martian back to help the others and kept Robin at the Mountain.

He looked at his young protégé, "I thought I said to avoid physical combat."

Robin looked up at his adoptive father and mentor. "It couldn't have been avoided. Sportsmaster got her just as the first blows were being thrown. He was determined to have her dead and has been for a long time. Ivy gave him the opportunity tonight."

"How did you know he wanted her dead?"

"Psycho assassin father with a hero daughter, it wasn't hard to figure out."

"So you knew of her lineage?"

"Have for a while. I was going to wait for her to admit it to the Team before I spoke up."

Batman gave Robin a nod and walked into the mountain with Robin following him. Robin went to the Med Bay at first instinct and waited outside the doors. It didn't take long for other people to start showing up. First members of the Justice League started appearing, such as Green Arrow and Black Canary. Then Artemis's mother showed up, finally followed by the Team after a long while.

Kid Flash didn't even bother changing out of his costume and ran to the Med Bay to find several others waiting outside. He looked to his best friend who had his head in his hands and had changed into civilian attire. Wally wove in and out of the small crowds of people till he reached Robin.

"How is she?" He asked worriedly.

"I don't know. She's been in surgery for hours and not one doctor has come out with any news. For now it's a waiting game."

Wally sat down next to Robin in a hard plastic chair as the Team trickled into the hallway. Everybody looked distraught, heavy on the dis. Zatanna looked close to having a breakdown, as she was the only one who saw everything happen. She accepted the comfort of Robin by leaning her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her. Zatanna cried into his jacket for hours.

Everybody stayed in the hallway for a while, except for when they needed food or a restroom. Most just fell asleep in the hallway. Except for Wally, he never once left. Not for food, not for anything. He never once fell asleep either. People occasionally brought him things such as a pillow to encourage sleep or snacks that he ate mindlessly. The only other people who exhibited the same behavior were two Vietnamese ladies down near the end of the hall, one in a wheelchair.

Wally rose from his seat and approached them. "Hi." He said to kick things off. "Are you Artemis's family?"

The older woman in the wheelchair nodded, "I am her mother, and this is Jade, her sister."

Wally never even knew she had a sister. But her sister knew about him. "You're Kid Flash, aren't you?" She said in a familiar voice and with dark eyes that pierced his. She stared at the logo on his chest as if confirming his identity without his response, then her eyes found the large dark red stain on his suit he had from holding Artemis.

"I am." He said solemnly.

Ms. Crock spoke up, "Then do you know how this happened to Artemis? I was told it was during a fight."

He wondered if he could disclose this info to this woman. But she would be told either way. "It was, the villain Sportsmaster did it."

Ms. Crock's eyes narrowed in fury. Jade made a futile attempt at calming her down. Ms. Crock almost yelled, "I don't need to calm down, Jade. What I need is for my daughter to be okay and for that vile excuse of a man to be brought to justice."

Wally saw no point in staying and talking with the family any longer and walked back to his spot next to Rob.

That was when a doctor finally appeared out of the door. He was bombarded by multiple people asking about Artemis.

"Stop!" The doctor yelled and everyone quieted down. "Artemis will recover."

Robin pushed his way to the front, "Why does there seem to be a but at the end of that sentence?"

"She will recover, but it will take weeks. The hero gig is suspended until then."

The first thought that crossed everyone's mind was, 'She is going to be so pissed.'

"Did you break the news to her yet?" Wally asked.

"No, for now she is unconscious. The news will be delivered to her when she wakes up." The doctor tried to make it out the crowd around him. Eventually they parted like the Red Sea.

"Who is going to tell her the news?" Kaldur said after the doctor left.

"KF will!" Robin instantly volunteered Wally over everyone else.

"Hey! Why do I have to?"

"Because, she'll take the news better from you than anyone else," Black Canary walked up to the young heroes through the large group.

Wally turned to his trainer and stared at her ludicrously. "She'll just hate me more!"

Zatanna laid a hand on his shoulder. "No, she won't. Wait inside for her to wake up."

It was tempting to Wally to just walk into the Med Bay and wait for her to wake up, but his face wouldn't be the one she would want to see when she wakes up. Would it? Making his final decision he walked into the Med Bay and waited for Artemis to open her eyes.


	2. Tears and Teddy Bears

Wally waited for Artemis to wake up. The doctors even set up a bed for him beside her. But whatever anyone did he wouldn't take his eyes off her until she woke up. He couldn't if he wanted to. All he saw were the machines hooked up to her and the bloody bandage around her midsection.

The worst part was, he blamed himself. He thought he should've seen Sportsmaster about to strike and at least take the spear for her. Hell, as soon as he saw her hanging upside down he should've jumped into action. Not even caring if Aqualad gave an order to help. He just should've been there to help.

Hours must have passed before anything remotely interesting happened. Occasionally Rob would bring him food and chat with him for a while. Then he would leave again and show up again later. What really peaked his interest was when Zatanna walked in. Wally thought she was off in her room or doing something with the rest of the Team. In all truth she's been staying in the hallway the entire time, Robin also bringing her food.

Zatanna's eyes looked red and puffy from continuous tears streaming down her face. "Hey," she said and pulled up a chair next to him.

"Hi. I thought you were with the Team, not that I object to you being here or anything," Wally spouted out, trying to cover his own ass from saying something completely moronic.

"I was, they're all still out in the hall. They've been taking shifts for sleeping and getting food. Along with most of the Justice League too," Zatanna deadpanned.

"Everyone really cares, huh?"

"Of course. It's a horrible day when a hero dies or even came as close as Artemis did." A whole new barrage of tears started streaming down Zatanna's face.

Wally didn't know what to do with a crying girl. He carefully patted her on the back. "It'll be all right. She'll be all right. She has to be."

Zatanna wiped her eyes and cheeks, looking at Wally. "You really care, don't you?"

"Yeah! Of Course I do. How can I just be okay with losing a teammate?"

"I didn't mean that. I meant that you care for her as more than a teammate."

"Well, yeah, we're all friends on the Team."

"Damn it Wally. Are you that ignorant? I mean do you like her as more than a friend?"

"I-I guess. I mean I can't imagine life without her. All her comebacks at me and the petty arguments we get into. I would miss that, I would miss her." Wally wiped at his eyes in case any tears decided to slip out against his will. He cleared his throat and attempted a more manly answer, "Not to mention somebody needs to cover my ass on the missions."

"Nice save, Wally," Zatanna said sarcastically. She turned her head to look at Artemis and sucked in a breath at the sight that awaited her. She saw a huge red-tinged bandage around her stomach and tubes and machines keeping her alive. It was unbearable. "I should've been able to prevent this."

Wally went wide eyed at the young girl. "Zatanna, you did nothing wrong. Nobody knew the spear was going to explode. If anything, you saved her really. Otherwise the spear would've exploded inside her and there wouldn't have been a chance."

Zatanna launched up from her seat. "If I had saved her than she wouldn't be in the Med Bay hooked up to all these machines that are barely keeping her alive!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, although sounding hoarse from all the crying.

Robin busted into the room along with the rest of the Team, expecting Zatanna's hands to be around Wally's throat. If there had been time, bets would've been placed on how long Wally would last against Zatanna.

Kaldur approached the young girl and put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe it will be best if we all get some sleep. We do not need to blame ourselves for this, any of us." Zatanna ran out of the room with even newer tears streaming down her face. "M'gann, if you would please calm her down."

Megan nodded and flew out of the room, retracing the path Zatanna took.

Robin took the seat Zatanna was in and placed himself next to Wally. The rest of the Team took his lead, creating a half circle enveloping the end of the bed. Then it was a waiting game. Occasionally one would depart and bring back a tray of food for everyone. Other times somebody would nod off in their chairs and start snoring. Eventually Megan and Zatanna returned and added to the ring around Artemis's bed.

The only thing that kept everyone sane was the constant beeping that showed a constant heart rate for Artemis. If it missed a beep or it accelerated or decelerated the entire group of teenagers would snap to attention and hold their breath until it went back to normal.

Once in a while an adult would come in to check on everyone, whether it be a doctor or a League member. The said adult would ask if everyone was alright, if they needed anything. When the teenagers all monotonously said no they would leave with their heads hung.

Superboy kept his attention on listening to everyone outside the hallway. One time he heard, "It's like they're all catatonic. Until Artemis wakes up they won't behave like themselves." Another time he heard, "They won't even leave the room unless it's for food, how are they to be expected to attend school and go on missions?"

People kept coming and going from the hallway. Leaving multiple get well gifts there; flowers, cards, balloons, stuffed animals, the list goes on. Green Arrow even brought a new set of arrows for a surprise since Artemis lost all of hers when she was flipped, and it would take quite a while for the teen to get the arrows back on her own.

At least two days, borderline three, had passed when Artemis opened her eyes. She took everything in with one glance. She saw the entire Team encircling her bed. Wally was staring at her, Robin was holding Zatanna's hand as she sobbed into his jacket. Rocket was asleep with her head on Kaldur's shoulder. Kaldur was also asleep with his head lolling off the back of his chair. Megan and Connor were sitting very close to each other, cuddled up to one another.

In another second Wally came to the full realization that Artemis had opened her eyes. His mouth dropped and he nudged Rob with his elbow, as if to check that he wasn't the only one seeing this.

Robin smirked, "We were wondering when you would wake up."

The entire group snapped to attention at Robin's words, even the ones sleeping. They all smiled warmly at Artemis, who attempted to smile back but ended up wincing noticeably. Their smiles dropped as they cautiously looked at the broken girl in front of them. All calculating what could be considered safe for them to do without Artemis having to be in pain.

The archer attempted to sit up but was quickly ushered back down by everyone. "Guys, I'm fine."

Rocket scoffed. "Have you looked at your stomach yet?"

Artemis complied and saw a huge red soaked bandage. "How the- When did- What happened?" She finally settled on her question.

Everyone's eyes went wide. "Do you seriously not remember?" Rocket asked.

She tried to recollect all the things that she last remembered from the mission in Star City. "The last thing I remember was Poison Ivy flipping me with that damn tree and then my neck and head hurting pretty badly. I blacked out for anything else. So once again, what happened?" Artemis demanded.

Kaldur did his best to look calm, but his façade was breaking at the seams. "Sportsmaster attacked you. He tried to throw a spear at your abdomen but Zatanna intercepted it just before hitting you. Nobody noticed that he had a button in his hand. When he pressed it the middle of the spear exploded, sending the front half through your stomach."

A single traitorous tear slid down Artemis's cheek. She rasped out, "Dad did this?"

Superboy snapped his eyes even wider at her. "What did you just say?"

Artemis's mouth formed a small "o". "Damn super hearing," She cursed out.

She had to give him credit, he was persistent. "Artemis, what did you say?"

'It's now or never,' she thought to herself. "I said, 'Dad did this.' Happy?"

Everyone started seeing the puzzle snap together before their eyes. Megan wearily approached the subject first. "Sportsmaster… is your dad?"

Artemis sucked in a deep breath, which was very painful, and started explaining. "Yeah, he's my dad. And Cheshire is my sister, and the ex-villainess Huntress is my mom. Now you have my family tree."

Artemis calmly waited for Conner to get pissed, Aqualad to accuse her of trying to sabatouge the entire Team, Zatanna and Megan to revoke their friendships to her, Rocket to start yelling, Robin to accuse her of something else, and for Wally to completely blow up and blame her for every little mistake the team has gone through.

None of that happened though. Robin calmly put his hand on top of hers, "But you're not your family. You never have been."

Artemis stared curiously at Robin, "So you knew this whole time?"

"Duh. I know almost everything about almost everyone on this team. My hacking skills have to be put to use somehow when we're not on missions. Imagine my surprise when I found out KF still sleeps with a teddy bear," Robin chuckled.

"Dude! You said you wouldn't tell anyone about Bear Flash!" Wally squeaked out loudly.

Artemis leaned her head to the side and stared at Wally. "You're teddy bear… is named Bear Flash? Bear-y original, Baywatch." She started laughing as much as she could without completely splitting her stitches.

"Ha-ha Arty." Kid Flash shrunk down in his seat in embarrassment.

Robin leaned over her and whispered in her ear, "It's because of the Flash bottoms the bear wears."

Artemis stuck her head in her hand and tried to control her giggling. "Nice one, Kid Idiot."

Kaldur tried to reel in the laughing teenagers. "Now, back to the original matter. Artemis, why didn't you tell us about your family?"

Her laughter was cut off immediately. "Well, put yourself in my position. Young girl trying to get on a team of heroes who didn't like her much anyways for 'stealing' some other archer's spot, suddenly spilling her secret that her whole family is evil. That wouldn't have worked in my favor."

"As Robin said before, you are not your family. You have proven your usefulness and loyalty to this Team time and time again. None of us have ever doubted you to be as bad as you are making yourself out to be." Kaldur stated calmly.

Another tear fell down Arty's face. "Is that true you guys?"

Everyone nodded, even Wally, who she thought hated her guts.

Wally suddenly shot back up in his chair, remembering one little tidbit that he was put in charge of telling Artemis. "Hey Arty?" He began cautiously.

"Yes Wally?" She asked, deciding to play along for now.

"Um, you know that you have to heal and everything, right?"

"Yeah… Where is this going Baywatch?"

"Well, um, you aren't going to be able to participate in being a hero for a few weeks because of healing," Wally finished quickly, waiting for her to start yelling.

And yell she would. "That is so unfair! A few weeks could mean a month! For a month I have to do nothing but lie around and heal! What kind of bullshit is that!" At the volume she was getting at, it wouldn't be a surprise if the entire mountain heard her.

Batman quickly walked in. "That 'bullshit' is necessary for you to even be able to get near a bow again in your lifetime."

Artemis turned on Batman, not even caring that he was, you know, Batman. "You can't do that! You can't seriously expect me to do nothing while everyone else goes out on missions and does everything that makes a difference! I will not sit around doing nothing! I will not be forced to follow along with this shit!"

Robin turned to his loudmouthed friend and motioned for her to shut up multiple times. Nobody talked to Bats that way, at least if they wanted to keep their major appendages. The rest of the Team was staring at the spectacle before them. They knew she would be pissed, but not yell-at-Batman pissed.

"I admire your dedication to the fight, but you will follow orders to the letter about your health. We can't spare anyone getting injured in a fight when preventative measures could have been taken. The matter is decided," Bats kept his voice low to not alert the other heroes outside of the ordeal. "Do you understand?" Artemis nodded with a scowl on her face.

"Good, now get well soon." Batman dropped an envelope on her bedside table and walked out of the room.

The room was enveloped in silence for a few minutes. Artemis still had her scowl plastered to her face while everyone else stared at her wide eyed and open mouthed.

Robin spoke first. "I wouldn't believe that had happened if I didn't see it."

Then Rocket. "I know. That was either really stupid or really brave."

Next was Zatanna. "I'm going to go with stupid."

After that Kaldur. "I would say it had equal parts of both."

Artemis finally shut them up. "Quit it you guys. I made my argument, which was blatantly rejected. Now can we get on with our lives, the quicker the better."

"He did compliment you though," Robin pointed out. "He also got you a card, you should open it."

"Can I have some help? I have needles stuck in my hands and everything."

Robin reached over and grabbed the envelope, slipping his finger under the sealed flap and tearing the white paper to get to the card on the inside. He pulled out the card that had a little doodle of a bat hanging upside down on the front. Robin opened it and read aloud, "Get well soon, before everyone goes batty. Sincerely, Batman." A smile spread across everyone's face and Wally grabbed for the card.

"It does not seriously say that. There's no way Bats cracked a joke, let alone one about bats." Wally's words fell silent as he read the inside of the card. "Holy shit. Bats cracked a joke about bats. Did you guys know he had a sense of humor?"

Robin plucked the card from Wally's hands and set it back on the bedside table. "He does have a sense of humor, but we wouldn't know because only Wally makes jokes when Batman is around. So no laughing is done."

Everyone gave a quick giggle as more people started coming through the doors. First was Ms. Crock and Jade. Artemis tensed up when she saw Jade. How the hell did she get past Batman and all the other superheroes flooding into the room? Before she could wonder any longer people were grabbing tables and putting flowers and stuffed animals on them while others were tying balloons to chair and table legs. All the cards went into a pile on the bedside table.

Artemis was dumbstruck by how generous everyone was.

Green Arrow was quickly pushing his way to the front of the crowd around her. In his hands was a new quiver fully packed with arrows and little green bows tied to the shafts of each one. "Hey kiddo, I thought you might need new ones for when they finally let you shoot again. I even got you a new kind. Besides the regular, explosive, tracking, knock out gas, net, high-density polyurethane foam, grappling hook, fire, smoke screen, impact, lasso, and adhesive arrows, I also threw in some freezing arrows. One shot and it freezes around the target. So if you shoot it at someone's hand, they suddenly have a hand frozen to a wall or something to that affect." GA carefully set the quiver down on her bedside table next to the growing pile of cards.

"Holy crap! Thanks so, so ,so much GA! I thought it would take longer than my recovery time to get all the different kinds of arrows I had back. And now I even get a new one! If I could hug you, I would."

Wally leaned to Robin and whispered, "Is this what archer's Christmas is like?"

Robin laughed, "You should've seen me when I got my first Batarrang. It was like weaponry heaven."

Wally shook his head, now everyone had to try to top Green Arrow's gift. Which wasn't likely since Arty just offered to hug someone with her own free will still in place.

The entire Team, apart from Wally, set down homemade cards they had written while they were waiting. Those made him feel like a complete asshole for not making one. That's when Robin pulled a second one out with a flash symbol on the front. Robin gave Wally a pen and told him to sign it. The speedster put his speed into action and quickly wrote a short paragraph and signed his name.

Everyone besides the Team left the room saying to return later and to get well soon. The entire Med Bay was filled with assorted gifts. Artemis quickly made a mental reminder to write thank you notes to everyone while she had nothing else to do.

"Can you guys help me read the cards?" Artemis asked gently.

The large pile was quickly divvied up between the seven teenagers as they opened the cards and read them aloud.

Rocket called out. "From Canary. GA got you a quiver full of arrows, I don't know what he was thinking. They're going to make you want to shoot. Get well soon, Black Canary. P.S. When you get back into training you're going to wish you stayed in the Med Bay." Everyone laughed at the message from their combat teacher.

Conner started reading out loud. "From the Flash. Hope you get better in a flash, and that Wally doesn't give you too much trouble. Just tell Batsy if he's getting in the way of your healing time. Sincerely, Flash."

Then Megan took her turn. "This one doesn't say who it's from, hmm. Oh well, the inside says, 'I see-'" Megan suddenly stopped and her green skin turned paler.

"What does it say Megs?" Artemis asked worriedly at her friend's condition.

M'gann covered her mouth, "I can't read it." She passed the card to Robin.

The Boy Wonder adjusted his sunglasses and began reading. "I see you're still alive, to bad my javelin didn't do the job." Everyone's stomach's twisted. Robin forced himself to keep reading. "Those heroes you look up to won't be able to protect you forever. Love, Daddy."

Artemis turned as pale as she was from when she lost most of the blood in her body. "He- He's threatening me."

Robin grabbed his phone in his pocket and pulled it out, dialing in a number. Someone finally picked up on the other end. "Batman. Listen, get back down to the Med Bay, now." Pause. "No, Artemis is fine, kind of. It's about her dad. Just get down here and I'll explain everything." Pause. He flipped his phone shut and went back to staring at the card with the monstrous message inside.

Within minutes Batman was charging through the doors of the Med Bay with Martian Manhunter and Black Canary right on his heels.

Robin held out the card to Bats and he took it immediately. Reading it over with Canary and Martian Manhunter reading it over his shoulders.

Canary cringed back when she finished reading and Manhunter turned still as a statue. Batman's eyes narrowed and it looked like he was trying to use heat vision on the card.

Batman's voice boomed through the room, "Artemis, you do know who this is from right?"

She nodded. "Sportsmaster, my dad." She spat out the words like poison.

Canary walked up to Artemis and held her hand. "We won't let him touch you again. Let alone get near you."

"What about when I'm finally able to go on missions again? He's going to be there and he's set on me being dead."

Canary turned to Bats, "I can assume this just became a League priority. Nobody threatens our own like this without consequences."

Batman gave a solid nod. "An additional League member will be posted in the Mountain at all times, besides Red Tornado who already resides here as a Den Mother."

Artemis's hand was squeezed a little tighter by Canary, "You're going to be alright."

Kaldur respectfully interjected, "I'm sorry, but Artemis is one of our own. The Team's, not the League's. I mean no disrespect, but I believe all of us can agree that we wish to bring Sportsmaster to justice instead of the League."

Everyone nodded, not even hesitating.

"Alright," Batman agreed, "But, and I warn you now. If this spins out of your control the League will step in. Also, an addition member of the League will still be posted at the Mountain as a precautionary measure."

"I will take the first spot." Canary volunteered. "I am sure GA will take the second."

Artemis was feeling better already. She had always thought of Canary and GA like her aunt and uncle, just extended family. Kinda like the Team.

"The matter is settled then. Canary you may stay here at the Mountain until the next person comes to relieve you." Batman left with Martian Manhunter.

Artemis cleared her throat. "Guys, can you please leave me alone for a little while, I just want to get some sleep. I'll be fine."

Canary motioned the others out of the room. "I'll be right outside if you need anything."

"Thanks Canary." Artemis pulled a painful smile onto her face as she shut the door.

With that Artemis started crying and didn't stop until she actually fell asleep.

**A/N: Yup, Arty isn't dead…. Yet! Just kidding! Any-who, thanks for the reactions on the first chapter, continue reviewing, please, so I know I'm heading in the right direction with this! I couldn't leave you hanging with just that first part anyways, hope you liked it.**


	3. Don't Mess With My Sister

Artemis blearily opened her puffy eyes, still red from crying, to see Jade sitting on the end of her bed. She immediately stiffened at the sight of her assassin older sister nonchalantly sitting so close.

Noticing the slight change in Artemis, Jade slowly turned her head towards her. The assassin carefully wiped her eyes as she looked at her battered baby sister. How could a man be so heartless as to do this to his own daughter? 'Oh, right, its Sportsmaster we're talking about here,' Jade thought to herself sarcastically.

"What are you doing here?" Artemis asked mercilessly.

"I can't visit you when you're in such ill health? That's cold, Sis."

The archer squirmed uncomfortably, "It's not that you can't visit me, but all the heroes here are going to be on your tail when they figure out who you are. Especially since everybody knows about our oh-so-great family record now."

"Most of the heroes already know I'm here, and those heroes know about my job history. Your little Flash Kid boyfriend knew I was your sister and didn't even bother approaching me again after you spilled our family secret."

Artemis's mouth gaped, "Then how are you not in handcuffs right now? And Wally is not my boyfriend!" A blush was slowly creeping up onto her face.

"But you want him to be," Jade called out in a sing-song voice.

"Shut up! Now stop changing the subject, why are you here?" Artemis demanded in a no-nonsense voice.

"My, my, baby sister. You're turning into Mom more and more every day."

"It's better than being like that monster," Artemis muttered, unconsciously laying a hand over her bandaged stomach.

"You will never be like _him_," Jade whispered soothingly.

Artemis looked up to meet her sister's soft gaze. "Thanks," She whispered. "Now answer my damn questions!" Artemis almost yelled.

Jade sighed, "This game was always more fun when you were little. I'm here because I wanted to give you the card you were supposed to have from me." She pulled a card without an envelope out of her jacket pocket and handed it to Artemis, careful to avoid all the needles in her hands.

Artemis took the card like it was a ticking time bomb. "What do you mean 'supposed to'?"

"I already explained this to Bats."

"Well I'm not on the best terms with him right now, so explain to me what you said."

A chuckle escaped the older girl. "Of course you're not on good terms with Batman, everybody heard your shouting match with him, but that's beside the point." Jade took in a deep breath and continued, "Dear old Dad got his card in by changing it with my own. He switched the cards in the envelope and I took it here none the wiser. The card in your hands was the one meant to come here, not that sick, twisted thing Dad calls a get well message."

Artemis took the information in carefully, it made sense at least. But there was always the possibility that she was lying. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"The big green Martian out there read my mind, I'm all clear."

"Then answer my other question, how are you not in jail by now?"

"This is starting to feel like an interrogation instead of a visit. But if you must know, I've decided to help your little squad of sidekicks bring down Dad. Nobody hurts you without dealing with me," Jade declared proudly.

"I'm guessing Mom had something to do with the League just letting you slide like this?"

"In honesty, yes. She called Batman Brucie, you should've seen it. The poor bat looked mortified, his sidekick looked ready to burst out laughing." Jade was trying to hold in her laughter, and doing very badly at it.

Artemis tried remembering where she heard the name Bruce before, and why it could have a connection to the Dark Knight. Her train of thought was given up on and she went to laughing along with her sister. It had been a long time since they laughed together, since before Jade left and Artemis was subjected to living with Sportsmaster alone.

When their laughter had died down Jade stood up, "Well, this has been fun. But I need to go home and grab some things before I'm subject to staying here."

"Wait, you're going to be staying at the Mountain?" Artemis asked, half in shock.

"Yes, something about the heroes wanting to keep an eye on me so I don't do anything else that's considered 'wrong'." Jade air quoted wrong and started making her way to the door. "But if that Red Arrow stops by, that wrong rule might just be broken," Jade let the innuendo sink in.

Artemis looked at her sister in horror, "Ew, ew, ew, ew, why do you have to say things like that!"

Jade winked at her sister and slipped out the door.

"That was horrifying," Artemis whispered to herself in the empty room. She then decided to herself to leave the room if Jade and Roy were in the same space as each other.

Artemis looked at the card in her hand to see a plain white background with an amazing drawing of a bow and arrow on the front. On the inside it read, "Get well soon, Sis. Somebody needs to be able to hold the hero title for our family, and we both know it won't be me. Love, Jade."

'At least she cares,' Artemis thought to herself before putting Jade's card among the others on the bedside table. 'Now if only I wasn't stuck in this damn bed.'

The clock on the wall close by read that it was a little past noon. The Team had gone to bed the previous night around one, so they should be waking up soon if they hadn't already. And then they would eat breakfast that Megan cooked, or at least Wally would and everyone else would have cereal. It felt weird to be missing out on something that only seemed routine at the time, but now she really missed it.

About a half hour later a doctor came in to explain Artemis's injuries to her. There was the obvious spear through abdomen thing that left a few punctured organs, a couple cracked or broken ribs from the spear knocking them out of the way, and internal bleeding that had been patched up, then she had been stitched up and bandaged over. Her ankle was also broken from Ivy wrapping the branch to tight, which she was going to pay for. Also, there were some effects from having been flipped so quickly. And last but not least, the effects from all the arrows exploding and such below her, which caused minor scrapes from debris and her lungs took quite a lot of smoke in, which didn't help but add to everything else.

The doctor then rambled on about how she was lucky to be alive, yada yada. Artemis had a lot of close calls before; she was used to it by now. Besides, sympathy and pity didn't go so well for Artemis, it made her feel weak. And if there was one thing Artemis Crock wasn't, it was weak.

Eventually the Team came and visited her again. They brought along a TV on wheels that had a DVD player to watch movies. Everyone decided to finish watching the scary movie that had been playing when the mission interrupted them. It was the ever so classic, Alien. One of the Team's favorites.

After watching that they settled back into reading cards from everyone and sharing jokes. There had been one specific card that stood out from most of the others, Captain Marvel's. In messy handwriting it said, "Artemis, get better soon. It's Wally's turn to wait on someone now, make sure to remind him of that. When you get better maybe we can all go out and play baseball. Sincerely, Captain Marvel"

"He might be part adult, but he's still mostly little Billy," Robin remarked jokingly.

That's when Black Canary walked in, looking ready to kick some ass. "Come on you guys, you can't skimp on training just because one of you is hurt."

Everybody grumbled "yeses" and rose from their seats.

"Can I watch?" Artemis asked politely.

Canary looked flustered for a second as she tried to figure out how that would work. Soon a call button for a nurse was in her hand and the nurse came in. "Can Artemis somehow be moved so she can watch training practice? Perhaps a wheelchair might work?" Canary suggested to the nurse.

The nurse agreed and started to disconnect Artemis from all the machines around her. Slowly Artemis was adjusted into a wheelchair. It took all her might not to scream out in pain from all the movement. The Team looked on worriedly at her as her face contorted in pain. Nobody wanted to know what she was going through, but all of them would trade places with her in a heartbeat.

When the difficult part was done Canary was pushing Artemis out of the Med Bay and towards the training area. Dinah was lost in thought as she pushed the young girl through the halls of the Mountain. 'Injuries come with the job,' She thought to herself. 'That doesn't mean she deserved this.'

After what seemed like to long of a walk they arrived in the training area where Canary pushed Artemis over for a front row seat. After activating the platform for training she went about partnering everybody up. Zatanna against Miss Martian, Aqualad against Superboy, Rocket against Robin, and finally Kid Flash against herself. Artemis was vastly amused by watching Wally get his ass handed to him time and time again by Canary.

After a short break everybody re-partnered up with someone else and started fighting. Canary was taking a momentary sideline with Zatanna who attempted a hit against Miss Martian and nearly broke her knuckles by holding her fist the wrong way. The girl needs to stop relying on her magic and start learning to fight correctly.

An amused voice rang through the training area while everyone else was distracted, "This looks like fun, mind if I join?" Jade called out to Canary, but everyone was distracted by the message.

Everybody but Canary, Artemis, and Robin wore masks of confusion at their visitor. Then Wally, ever the ladies man, approached her. "Hey, you're Artemis's sister aren't you? Jade right?"

"Yes, but you all know me by a different name. Cheshire," Jade casually explained herself like it was the daily weather, not announcing that she was one of the biggest enemies the Team has faced.

Most of the Team took fighting positions against her when Robin called out, "Don't attack her. She's on our side now. Cheshire is going to be helping us take down Sportsmaster."

Robin was met by a chorus of "What?" and "That's ridiculous!" from his teammates, except Artemis.

Cheshire walked forward with a smirk that made everyone see the family resemblance to Artemis. "Bird boy is right. Nobody hurts my baby sister without having to deal with me, our father is no exception," She said with a light pat on Artemis's shoulder.

Meanwhile Artemis was trying her best to be invisible, now she had to deal with her sister embarrassing her in front of all her friends. That was just fantastic. If Jade started telling baby stories she was done for.

Canary approached Cheshire causally, as if they were old friends. "Black Canary," Dinah said as she stuck her hand out for a hand shake.

"Cheshire Cat," Jade responded as they shook hands.

"From what I've heard about your skills it wouldn't be a challenge to put you against anyone in the Team, so I'll be your fighting partner for now," Canary explained calmly. She adjusted herself to the middle of the training platform and took up a fighting stance, "So let's see if the cat can beat the bird."

The entire Team sat wide eyed on the edge of the platform, waiting for Cheshire's move. Cheshire took her time walking up onto the platform and across from Canary before finally adopting a fighting stance. She was taking her sweet dramatic time.

They stood opposite each other for a few minutes before Cheshire struck the first move. Cheshire attempted a left hook at Canary which was easily blocked. During the small opening Canary shot her fist into Cheshire's stomach. A good blow on her part. It momentarily phased Jade before she took on a bit more aggression towards Canary. She swung out for the blonde's legs in an attempt to trip her.

Canary jumped up and kicked towards Cheshire's shoulder. Cheshire grabbed her foot at the last second and twisted it, causing Canary to fall face first to the ground. Before the platform could dish out a "Fail" to Canary she reached her foot behind Cheshire's ankle and pulled her down to the platform. It knocked the air out of Cheshire's lungs but she skillfully jumped up before the winner could be determined as Canary. There was no way either one was going easy on the other.

The fighting continued for minutes, it seemed both women were equally matched. Every time Cheshire had the advantage on Canary, Canary would take it back, and vice versa. The Team sat on the sidelines in awe. They had never seen anybody go up against Canary so long. Artemis was the longest combatant against Canary on the Team, but Cheshire blew even her away with her fighting performance.

After another few minutes the Zeta-tubes behind them announced the arrival of someone, "Recognized, Speedy B06". That was followed by a pissed red head yelling to a machine that his name was Red Arrow.

At the small sight out of the corner of her eye of Red Arrow, Cheshire's concentration slipped, allowing Canary to get the final blow in. Knocking Jade down for the count. Beside Jade was a little lit up section of the floor saying, "Cheshire Status: Fail"

Jade rose from the floor with a string of profanities that would make most people run away. Artemis was still sitting in the wheelchair, with a smug look on her face. Nobody beat Canary, it was a simple fact.

Roy was watching curiously as a woman picked herself up from the training floor, her back still turned to him. When she turned around the arrow was notched in his bow before she could speak.

Jade wore a slight smirk as she put her arms up in mock surrender, "Didn't you hear handsome? I'm on your side now."

The archer looked to Canary who confirmed with a nod. Roy slowly took the arrow away from his bowstring and back into his quiver. "Alright, I can't be the only one asking this. Why the hell are you on our side all of the sudden?"

Jade looked to Artemis who rolled her eyes and waved her to go on and explain. "Well, if you must know. Sportsmaster made a very stupid move attacking my sister. I'm here to help bring him down. Is that a good enough answer for you Red?"

"For now."

**A/N: Yup, surprise! Jade is helping out the Team. And Canary (resident badass) kicked her ass in training because stupid Roy distracted her. Romantic tension between the Cheshire and Roy in the future, I think so. Keep reviewing, please, and I'll keep writing. That's the deal, okay? Okay, that's settled then. Enjoy!**


	4. Less Than Comfortable

The Team plus Jade and Roy were standing around in the kitchen. Well, Artemis was still sitting in a wheelchair. This was supposed to be something Jade called "the getting-to-know-you portion of the day". Nobody objected considering Canary had left from her hours of watching over the Cave, and now Roy had to watch over them, and according to him to watch over them they had to stay together. The only people who didn't want to follow those rules were the Crock sisters. Jade, because she wanted to see how pissed Red could get before leaving in a fit. Artemis, because she vowed to stay away from them considering how "flirty" Jade just had to be around the bozo.

"So," Robin started off, "Do you have any cool stories for us? Preferably embarrassing."

Jade smirked, "Any names in particular for the main character?"

"There's always Arty, considering you are her sister you must have the best blackmail. I mean stories," Wally said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

After a quick look at Artemis Jade had picked the victim of her story. "I do have one story that I enjoy in particular," Jade smirked like the Cheshire Cat she was, "Although it isn't about Artemis."

"Are you going to tell us who it's about or do we have to guess?" Roy piped up from his corner of the kitchen.

"It's about a certain ginger in this very kitchen, if that narrows your choices." Everybody's eyes flickered from Wally to Roy and followed in that pattern a few more times before settling on Jade to continue. "It was before your Junior Justice League was formed," Jade took note of how Roy's cheeks turned just a shade redder than normal, he knew exactly what the story was now. "I had been hanging out in Star City after a job, and I just so happened to run into a hero and sidekick doing their patrol for the night."

Robin stole a glance at Roy before he was glared at. After noting that Roy's face was living up to his chosen color, he turned back to Jade. But not before pulling out his phone discretely to record this, it was going to be gold against Roy.

"They both looked like versions of Robin Hood, very tacky versions of Robin Hood I must add," Cue snicker from Bird Boy and Flash Boy. "There didn't seem to be a way of them letting little old me go, so I pulled out my weapons of choice, jelly fish darts. The green Robin Hood dogged my darts with ease, but Junior Hood didn't even bother dogging. What he tried to do was shoot my darts out of the air, when we were less than ten feet apart. Such a little red and yellow idiot." Cue smirk from Artemis.

"Needless to say he got hit by a few darts. And don't get your little panties in a bunch," She shot over at Kaldur with a small glare, "Those darts only had a light dosage of poison, so the moron passed out in the middle of the fight. Big Hood decided to tend to Junior before finishing the damn fight, so apparently being an idiot runs in that hero line."

"I resent that," Artemis glared at her sister with a small pout forming on her lips.

"Whatever," Jade continued with an eye roll added in for good measure, "So Hood Senior had his back turned and ended up in the same unconscious predicament as Junior was. That's where _my_ fun began. I tied the two up with their own ropes and handcuffs seeing as how I didn't have any, and it was a good way to embarrass them that I couldn't pass up."

"So they're tied up, so what?" Zatanna interjected.

"I didn't stop there, that's what. They ended up being hung in between the pillars of City Hall. I almost tied them to some lamp posts, but where's the fun in that?" Judging by half the Team's expressions it was certainly better to leave them out in the public eye. The other half was giggling and looking at the tomato red Roy.

"I remember that!" Robin called out, "There was a news segment with video from a camera phone of you guys hanging from your feet in front of City Hall!"

"Who do you think took the footage?" Jade asked with a grin.

Robin, King of Pranks, proceeded to get on his knees in front of Cheshire, much to her alarm. "Please teach me the way of the pranking, Cheshire style," He said in a very serious voice.

It looked like Jade was trying to sort out the pros and cons of teaching the boy. After what seemed like an awkward eternity her gaze turned back to Robin. "Rise Boy Blunder," She said, mocking his previous seriousness, "I will teach you. First lesson, don't record stories, record the prank as its happening."

Robin gave a sheepish grin, "It was too good an opportunity to pass up, and I wasn't there for the original material."

"I was, I'll send you the footage," With a wave Jade left the kitchen to who knows where.

"Yeah," Robin muttered to himself, "She'll fit in well around here."

"Speak for yourself," Roy shoved his way out of the kitchen after Cheshire. Nobody messes with Roy Harper and gets away with it like that, except maybe Dinah. He would lose that battle _every _time.

"So much for bonding time," Conner scoffed and went to go watch the static of the television.

"I'll just get started on some cookies," M'gann mumbled and went about pulling out ingredients with her telekinesis.

The Team started retreating to their own activities. That's when Artemis called out, "Could someone roll me back to Med Bay?"

Zatanna was a few feet from Artemis and started making her way towards her when Wally zoomed in front of the young magician. "I'll take care of it Zee."

After a small stare down Zatanna walked off muttering, "Lover boy could've just volunteered first."

A small blush prickled at Artemis's cheeks. Zee needed to learn how to keep her thoughts _inside_ her head. Although most people don't because with a mind reader always around your thoughts were bound to come out no matter what.

Wally was hesitating before gripping the handles of the wheelchair. Just enough for its occupant to notice, "Well, Chauffer, to the Med Bay. On the double."

All the hesitation left his body and he grabbed the handles and started pushing Artemis around the Cave. "Could you be any more of a slave driver?"

"I could," Artemis trailed on, "There's always making you go get my lunch, a foot rub would be nice too. Maybe reading off more cards later. Then a movie and popcorn with extra butter and no salt. After that we could paint your toenails," Artemis added on the last one to see if Wally was paying attention.

He must've been because the chair jerked to a stop, "That devilish thing you call nail polish is getting nowhere near me."

"Don't be a party pooper Baywatch. I think a nice hot pink would work for you, some sparkle top coat for good measure."

"Do you understand the word 'no'?" He asked a bit skittish.

"I understand it, but who said I had to comply?" A smirk slid onto Artemis's face. _This is just too easy_, Artemis thought to herself.

"Harpy," Wally snapped at Artemis.

"Idiot," She snapped right back.

Wally was suspiciously silent for a second. "Well, not as much of an idiot as Roy."

The two burst into laughter, which resulted in Artemis clutching her bandages around her stomach as a red spot started growing there. That resulted in Wally rushing towards Med Bay "double time" as a certain slave driver put it.

Thankfully a nurse was there looking through some papers. The nurse ordered Wally to leave the room, for some reason he didn't understand. He complied anyway and was reduced to pacing outside of the Med Bay. The déjà vu was like a wrecking ball to the speedster. This was how he seemed to be ending up when Artemis was messed up. A pent up ball of nervous energy.

After forever the nurse came out and said he was free to go in. So go in he did. What he saw was a tired looking Artemis lying in her usual bed with a new hospital shirt on. It hurt his heart to see her like that. So… helpless looking. Artemis was not helpless, she was strong and determined, and the list went on in Wally's head.

Artemis finally turned her leaded gaze to Wally, "So laughing is out of the question, huh?" The corner of her mouth lifted up in a tired attempt at a smirk.

"Seems that way," Wally said as "approach with caution" signs flashed off in his mind.

More awkward silence passed between the two. Wally finally cleared his throat to get the lump that cautioned him against speaking out of the way. "So, why did I have to leave for your bandages to be changed?"

Artemis's eyes went just slightly wider, "I, um, have to take my shirt off for the nurse to get to my bandages."

Wally caught on after almost a full minute and his eyes defiantly went wide. "Don't you," More throat clearing, "Um, have like a bra on?"

"No, the one I was wearing got scrapped during surgery," Artemis forced herself to be composed. If Wally was flustered she was going to take the time to enjoy it and take the necessary steps to keep it that way. Kinda bitchy, but she didn't care.

His face was as red as his hair, "Ohhh," He dragged out, not knowing what else to say. _As if it wasn't awkward enough before_.

A rumbling from Wally's stomach broke the stagnant silence. "Well, I'm gonna go, you know…" He trailed off.

"Stuff your face?" Artemis offered up.

"Yeah, that." With one final smile Wally was out of the Med Bay and in the kitchen where the smell of cookies was coming from.

He caught M'gann just floating the fresh cookies out of the oven. "What kind this time, Megs?"

"Snicker doodles," The Martian answered and floated milk out of the fridge for Wally to drink with the cookies.

Wally grabbed a cup and set about with his glass of milk before digging into the still burning hot cookies. After the burning sensation left his mouth he realized the cookies actually tasted good, compared to her previous experiments, not that he'd ever admit it. "Good job Megs. You're getting better." He grabbed a few more cookies and sped out of the kitchen.

_He didn't call me Megalicious or Babe_, she thought to herself. M'gann settled on the theory that he finally accepted that her and Conner were dating. Little did she know.

Artemis woke up in the Med Bay after having passed out from exhaustion. The first thing that caught her eye was a yellow box with an obnoxious red ribbon sitting on her bedside table.

She sighed and reached for the box. It wasn't there when she fell asleep and how many people insist on those stupid colors? _There's Wally of course, but why the hell would he be giving me a gift?_

She menuvered enough to lift the lid of the box and not disturb all the wires and tubes hooked up to her. A note fluttered out first thing.

"To the Harpy,

Thought you might be more comfortable when actually wearing clothing.

You can thank me later, The Wall-man"

Her hands carefully moved tissue paper out of the way, revealing a shirt and two bras in the box. She snorted and started laughing quietly to herself, careful to not rip her damn stitches again. Then another thought occurred to her, t_he idiot had to go in my room to get this stuff_. _He'll pay for that later_.

Another swoop of tiredness enveloped the blonde and she put the box back on the bedside table and drifted off into a dream where she wasn't confined to a hospital bed most of the time.

**A/N: So, I finally wrote another chapter huh? It's been what, two weeks? Have I mentioned I'm sorry yet? Sorry! **

** My friend said she wanted to see Jade mess around with the Team, so I turn that into one embarrassing story and fluff. I'm great at taking ideas huh? (Sarcasm there ) Not to mention this chapie is much shorter compared to the others. But do not fear! I shall write a really cool, longer, chapter… soon… I hope. **

** Before I forget, thank you for reading, this story has gotten over 800 views. Did you hear me? ****800****. That's pretty awesome for my first multi-chapter story. I love you guys, so keep reading and reviewing!**


	5. Hat Thrower

_Meanwhile during the fluffies…_

Roy was about to kick the first thing in sight, then yell at it for good measure. Cheshire had told the most embarrassing story of his Speedy career. He settled for shoving Robin out of his way to go after Jade. That girl (woman?) was going to get a piece of his mind.

He finally caught up with her in the training room, where she was cutting the stuffing out of a training dummy with her sais. A battle between his common sense and anger was waging in his mind. On one hand she needed to be taught that she couldn't just embarrass him like that, on the other she was armed at the moment. A small voice in the back of his head said that he wouldn't win no matter what he did.

All the voices were silenced as Jade called out, "If you wanted a show, Red, you could've just asked. Then you might've gotten something more private."

Another blush creeped up on Roy's face. "I came here to tell you that the story you told back there isn't right. You can't just embarrass me like that."

"Why not?" Jade asked as she faked sadness. "Do you have some sort of reputation you need to keep up for the kiddies?" Her normal smirk having replaced the feigned expression.

"No," Roy practically growled out.

"Then why do you want to ruin my fun?" She went about doing very exaggerated stretches, hoping to get some kind of reaction out of Red.

"Embarrassing me in front of the people who are supposed to take me seriously is _fun_?" His hands were starting to reach back for an arrow unconsciously.

Jade straightened up and placed her hands on her hips, "Well, it really does depend on the point of view. I had a marvelous time, and Baby Bird asked for lessons. That took the cake I must add."

"Well next time you want to have fun, leave me out of it," With that he started storming off. At the doorway he was met by Robin who looked like he had just got there. But looks can be deceiving, can't they? "What do you want Rob?"

"I came to train, nothing more nothing less," The little ninja slipped off into the room before Roy could effectively block his path.

Roy continued his dramatic exit, much too Jade and Robin's amusements.

After they settled down Robin asked, "So what did you do to piss him off?"

"We don't see eye to mask on the concept of 'fun'."

"Oh, don't worry about that. Ever since he went solo he's been a big ball of pissed-off-fun-sucking-ness," Robin explained.

She scoffed, "So he used to actually be enjoyable to be around? I find that hard to believe."

"Well believe it. He once helped me pull a prank on KF where we duct taped him to the roof of Flash's house," A quick chuckle left his lips as he remembered it. "KF was _pissed_, but Flash, well Flash couldn't stop laughing long enough to get him down before he got a sunburn."

"We really need to swap stories sometimes, Kid," A sly smile found itself to Jade's face.

"That we do," Robin paused in thought, "You know Roy really doesn't hate you. I think he actually likes you. No way would he ever admit it, but he does."

"Red's name is Roy? It kinda fits," Jade thought aloud. "Thanks Bird Boy, I'll keep that in mind."

The two proceeded to spar and Jade actually taught him a few moves. But only one time did Robin ever win their multiple fights. It was because he cheated just a little bit.

"So, I think there's something you should know about Roy," Robin started off while dodging punches.

"What horrible thing are you about to tell me?" Cheshire asked, getting only a little frazzled.

"Well, he's…." Robin let the pause lengthen and the suspense sink in, "He's a hat thrower."

Jade froze just long enough for Robin to knock her off her feet. The air left her lungs, but she had been holding that breath since Bird Boy started talking. "What the hell were you thinking when you said that? And what do you mean by hat thrower, is that some sort of euphemism?"

Robin helped Jade up as he laughed, "I was thinking that I was tired of getting my ass kicked. And no, hell no is it a euphemism. I was being literal." Robin continued to pull up the footage of Roy getting all angsty at the Hall of Justice and throwing his hat to the ground.

Jade stood open mouthed as the footage came to an end. "Okay, that was the pissy kid I hung from City Hall." _Going solo has done wonders for him_, Jade thought.

"He wasn't traught at all," Robin sighed at his friend's behavior.

"Traught? I speak several languages and that is not a word in any of them."

"That's because you don't speak Robinese-"

"Thank God for that," Jade muttered, interrupting the Boy Wonder.

"You'll appreciate it with time," Robin announced with full confidence.

"Just keep telling yourself that," With that Jade darted from the training room with her sais.

Jade was meandering her way throughout the Cave when she finally stopped back in the kitchen for a quick snack. And there before her stood the King of Angst eating cookies. He hadn't noticed her just yet, so the opportunity to scare him was still there. Just as she was about to sneak up on him he turned around.

"Next time, don't try to sneak up on me. I've been trained to notice it," Roy said as he glared at Cheshire.

"Trained by whom? Hood Senior?"

"That's right," He admitted with a bit of cockiness tinting his voice.

"Then, please do remind me, how did you end up hung from a building?"

Roy tallied it up in his head, "One assassin, one late night, four poison darts, and my own handcuffs and rope."

Jade strolled over to the pantry to look for food, "You're starting to sound like a Christmas song… Hat Thrower." She added the new nickname for good measure.

"Really? I don't have any hat to throw now," Roy declared and gestured to his head.

"Well, no," Jade said as she gave him a once over, "But you could always throw the pants away."

The archer shook his head, "Now why do you insist on flirting with me?"

"It's simple, one day in the near future, you will finally give into my charms," Jade announced with absolute certainty.

"I seriously doubt that, Jade."

"So we're on a first name basis now. It's a start, Roy."

Roy stayed silent and settled on glaring at Cheshire. It only made Jade look more amused. _How can this woman be so infuriating? I mean seriously, she won't stop flirting with me, yet she insists on mocking me. And then to top it off she looks so damn smug about it all! _

"You know," Jade started off, "If you weren't so angry all the time you might be a bit more attractive. It would certainly do wonders for your dating life."

"Excuse me? I am already doing fine in both aspects," Roy tried defending himself.

"So you have a girlfriend then?" Jade inquired, a little hurt from him never mentioning anything.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Roy countered back.

"Well," Jade drawled out in a seductive voice, "If you do have a girlfriend, she's going to be pretty angry about this."

Before Roy could ask what about, Jade kissed him. He didn't fight back or push her away, he wasn't that stupid. A beautiful woman already kissing him? Score. Roy kissed her back with a little more force, trying to win the fight for dominance in the kiss.

That was when Jade pulled back, "So what was that about you having a girlfriend?"

"I don't," With that Roy pulled Jade back in for another kiss.

Kaldur was walking by the kitchen with Raquel when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He stopped and saw Jade and Roy making out.

Raquel noticed Kal stopping and noticed the same thing he did. She let out a low whistle and whispered, "It's about time that boy got some action."

Kal pulled Raquel along and out of viewing range, "That is not something meant for our eyes."

Roy was completely oblivious to everything happening around him, Jade on the other hand smiled slightly and deepened the kiss.

**A/N: This was all happening during the Wally and Artemis interaction. I couldn't resist writing this part to go with chapter 4.**

**Anyways, keep reading and reviewing. I read all reviews and some of them are pretty funny, and your guys' suggestions are awesome, I'm trying to see if I can fit it in with the plot I thought out. Now here's some responses to some reviews...**

**To C.G~ Nobody was going to stop them from making out, sorry. But there are consequeces for actions. MUAHAHA!**

**To HeHe~ Revenge will most certainly be Artemis's, but I have a different theory about who should be her parter in (legal) crime.**

**To the Guest who quoted my story~ That was a proud moment for me when you quoted. Thank you! Just needed to say that :)**


	6. Mischievous

After Kaldur dragged her off, Raquel sprinted towards the Med Bay. She would've taken the faster way by flying but unlike a certain somebody, she didn't keep her belt on her at all times.

Rocket busted into the Med Bay, startling two nurses who were previously having a pleasant conversation, and rushing over to Artemis's bed. She found the blonde, sadly, asleep. Needless to say, she didn't stay that way for long.

Raquel started off with a few gentle shakes of Artemis's shoulder. But the girl just wouldn't wake up. So the shaking progressed until as far as Rocket would risk with the injured girl. Rocket was about to give up when the idea fairy hit her in the head.

Leaning close to Artemis's ear, she whispered, "Looks like Wally's just going to get away with shooting your bow and arrows."

Grey eyes flashed open faster than you would think possible. "Roll me over there so I can kick his ass," Artemis demanded with a firm tone.

_Sure, that wakes her up_, Raquel thought to herself. "You want to kick his ass… and you can't even walk by yourself. That makes sense," Rocket muttered sarcastically.

"I heard that!" Artemis almost yelled. "And I get this cast off in two weeks for your information, then I can walk around again."

"Until then Wally's ass will remain un-kicked." Rocket kept the sarcasm ball rolling, "I don't know how he'll survive."

Artemis seemed to consider that for a moment. "Actually, his ass does need to be kicked." She raised her eyebrows at Raquel, "You game?"

"And for what, dear archer, has an ass kicking been deemed necessary for?" Rocket asked loftily.

Her answer was a glare at the box on her bedside table. Raquel got the message and stepped over to the obnoxiously colored box. She opened the already precariously placed lid and looked inside.

Wide eyes looked at Artemis, it was soon replaced by a cool smirk, "He's giving you lingerie? A little early in the relationship don't ya think?"

The archer rolled her eyes, "He entered my room is what I'm getting at here."

Rocket's wide eyes were back in action. If anybody would understand the predicament, it would be Rocket. Both were protective of their rooms. Entry was only allowed when given. Otherwise you face an ass kicking, plain and simple. Well, it would be pretty hard to tell if Robin was in their rooms, but he seemed to follow the rule nonetheless.

"He must pay," Rocket whispered evenly and dangerously.

Artemis gave a smug nod, "Wanna get the other girls in on the plan?"

Rocket pulled a face, "Why only the girls?"

"Wally is obviously crossed out. Robin is his best friend. Kal would disapprove. Conner wouldn't care enough to help," Artemis ticked off on her fingers.

Raquel accepted this, "Alright, calling Megan now." With a thought she sent out, 'Megs, emergency girl meeting. Med Bay, ASAP. Alert Zee.'

'What about Jade?' A familiar voice rang out through Rocket's head.

Her head ducked just a little as she remembered why she busted into the Med Bay in the first place, 'She's a little, um, _preoccupied_ at the moment.'

'Alright,' M'gann skeptically answered. 'Be there in a second with Zatanna."

The mental connection was severed and the two girls already in the Med Bay waited patiently for the door to open. After about three minutes Megan walked in dragging a flustered looking Zatanna.

Before anybody said anything Zatanna screeched out, "Do you know what's happening in the kitchen?!"

Rocket snickered and tried to hide her smile at the girl's naivety. "They're just kissing, Zee."

Zatanna didn't calm down much, "No! They were…" She struggled to come up with something to say, "Were… like, mouth raping each other!"

Artemis cocked her head to the side as Rocket facepalmed. "Who?" She asked curiously.

The young magician was squirming in her spot as she debating whether Arty's wrath would be worse if she was told later rather than now. Although while Zee was taking care of that in her head, Artemis was trying to figure out who was "mouth raping" each other in the kitchen.

All the girls on the Team were currently in the Med Bay, which left Jade as one candidate. Or it could just be Robin and Wally finally proving all of the gay jokes true. But that didn't seem possible, otherwise Zatanna would've fainted by now. So that still left Jade. Kal seemed to have a thing for Raq, so that didn't work. Conner and Megan were actually dating, so that's another no. Robin wouldn't dare stray from Zatanna like that, another possibility down the drain.

That left Wally and Roy. Well there's no possible way that it's Wally. For God's sakes, Jade would sooner cut him with her sais then kiss him. _Oh shit_, it clicked in Artemis's head, _my sister and _Roy_. No no no. Mental image, shit!_

The girls watched curiously as Artemis's mouth dropped open and then she started shaking her head vigorously. _Looks like she figured it out_, Rocket thought.

Megan shot a look at Raquel, who held her hands up in mock surrender. A familiar buzzing went through everyone's ears signaling Miss M was linking them up mentally. 'I think this would be a conversation better had in our heads,' Megan thought first.

The other girls nodded, Artemis a bit on the numb side.

'First order of business,' Rocket started, 'We want to know if you want us to help get Wally back for going into Artemis's room.'

That broke Zatanna out of her frazzled state, 'He dared enter no-man's-land?'

Rocket gave a solemn nod, 'Yes, and now he must pay for his actions.' She perked up quickly, 'So ya wanna help?'

Zatanna quickly agreed. Megan was fiddling with her hair and mind babbling, 'I don't know, guys. We could get in trouble. Lots of trouble. We _already _are on probation from the last mission. And I'm already on probation for almost destroying the microwave last week.'

That broke Artemis out of her state, 'Megs, for the last time. You accidentally put a spoon in with some cocoa. It was an honest mistake, you aren't in trouble.'

'Besides,' Raquel cut in, 'We can always chalk this up to team bonding if need be.'

With a roll of her eyes Artemis assured M'gann a little more, 'And if _that_ wonderful plan doesn't work, I'll just take the fall. Not much they can punish me with at this point.'

'But you could be forced to full bed rest,' Zatanna pointed out.

'Doesn't mean they'll keep me from having visitors,' Artemis threw back.

All the girls nodded while making small sounds of agreement. The League, even Batman, wasn't that cruel as to deny Artemis visitors. Considering almost all of them have landed in a hospital bed of their own at one point or another. And the only thing that keeps a healing person sane is other company. Otherwise you're reduced down to staring at the walls and trying to figure out the name for the color. Flash thinks the Watchtower's Med Bay walls are Light Aster Blue. Nobody bothered to ask how he knew that an aster was a flower and not just the word Robin seemed to make up.

'So, do you have a plan already?' M'gann asked with a bit of confidence leaking into her voice. Wally was going to get pranked pretty much, and that was that.

'Well,' Rocket stated mischievously, 'I do have something in mind.'

_**~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~**_

In an hour's time the girls had gotten their supplies together and started phase one of the plan. M'gann used her telekinesis to float a sleeping, and snoring, Wally out of his bed and into the living room as Rocket secured him to the ceiling with duct tape. Zatanna was muttering a spell to keep Wally asleep in the meantime.

After the speedster was secured to the ceiling using three rolls of hot pink tape Arty blasted an air horn to wake him up. She hid the air horn behind her back and waited patiently.

Frantic green eyes looked around as he saw the girls sitting on the couch below him with Artemis in her wheelchair next to the couch. They were watching some chick flick that Wally didn't know the name to.

"Don't sit there trying to look innocent!" Wally yelled out, "Get me down!"

That attracted the attention of the other members of the Team. Minus Jade and Roy who were off doing who knows what.

Robin was the first there and you could tell by the camera flash going off. Next Conner filed in behind Kaldur. The clone took one look at the situation before him and walked right back out. If it was important then he would find out about it later.

Kaldur sighed and tried to get the gist of the situation, "What happened this time?"

Artemis's answer was cut off by an announcement by the Bat. "Team, to the briefing room."

Everybody looked at Wally, trying to figure out the fastest way to get him down.

Zatanna was the first to think of something and shooed the other girls off the couch. "_Eerf mih_," She called out.

The tape ripped open and Wally fell face first into the couch. He picked himself up as he muttered, "What's with the Crocks and tying up gingers?"

"You were taped, not tied," Artemis pointed out as Rocket started rolling her towards the briefing room. The others soon followed behind and they walked in silence.

When they arrived at the briefing room Red Arrow was standing there with Cheshire, whose hair seemed extra messy, along with Batman, Flash, and Green Arrow.

Batman's even words delivered the message he needed to send, "The League of Shadows has been acting up in Europe lately and robbing multiple banks. We know their next target and you are going to stop them."

Artemis rolled her eyes, "And I'm still stuck here?"

"Correct," Batman answered. "But Green Arrow and Flash will be watching over you for the time being seeing as how Red Arrow has finished his shift and Red Tornado was needed off planet."

Artemis was glad to be able to spend time with her "Uncle". But compared to the alternative, she would much rather be going on that mission.

Both color clad heroes gave her big grins and she could tell they planned on doing something fun. _Better than nothing_, she thought to herself.

The Team went off to suit up and Artemis, Flash, Green Arrow, and Red Arrow were left in the room after Batman departed.

While both Arrows were in the room Artemis took her chance. "So, Roy, how's Jade been today?"

Roy fixed the blonde with a glare, "How would I know?"

"Well, you two did seem to spend some time in the kitchen _together_, if you know what I mean," Artemis egged Roy on to get angrier. Or ang_roy_-er.

"What do you know, Crock?" He demanded.

"That you and my sister were sucking face in the place where we all prepare food!" She pointed an accusatory finger at the ginger.

"Not the food," Flash muttered from the sidelines.

"Forget the food," GA proclaimed, "Roy, you finally got a girl! This calls for a celebration!"

Artemis snickered into her hand as Roy blushed.

The ginger archer started inching his way towards the zeta tubes. "I'm just going to go now," He said as he sprinted the final distance.

All three heroes looked curiously in the direction Roy had headed. They hadn't embarrassed him that much. Compared to what they could've done, that was cake. Or in Flash's opinion, cookies.

"So what do we do now?" Artemis asked the adults.

"I vote for lunch," Flash quickly offered.

Both Arrows agreed and they set of to go get food.

_**~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~**_

The Team, which pretty much included Jade by now, was sitting in the bio-ship and waiting for takeoff as they chatted.

"So, Cheshire, how's Roy?" Robin asked with an eyebrow waggle.

"How should I know Bird Boy?" She responded as she placed her mask over her face to hide the growing blush.

The Boy Wonder cackled as Miss Martian flew the bio-ship out of the hanger doors.

Nobody noticed as a burly blonde man slipped in right before they closed back up.

**A/N: Um, sorry? No, sorry doesn't begin to cover how bad I feel for not updating this story for a **_**month**_**. But I can't come up with a better word, so sorry. **

**The idea fairy was not kind to me with this story. I only finally got an idea yesterday while I was at orientation for high school. Which also means that with school coming updates will be slower. Well, now as slow as last time.**

**But, on another note, maybe check out the other story I cooked up while this one's been, um, on hiatus? It's called Newest Generation. And that was called self-advertising, sorry. But it's a G.I. Joe fic, first thing I haven't written for YJ. But pretty please?**

**REVIEW. Please? With Batarangs on top?**


	7. Distractions

The fridge's and most of the pantry's contents had been dumped on the counter by Flash who said it was _all_ necessary to make lunch. Both archers knew better than to get in the way of a speedster and his food. So they just sat on the couch in the living room watching a movie.

Well, Artemis was watching the movie. Ollie was looking at the remnants of pink tape on the ceiling. His only theories for it being there was that Miss M wanted to redecorate and it didn't turn out so well. That or somebody used it to cover up something.

"Wally was taped to the ceiling," Artemis muttered when she noticed what GA was staring at.

His head snapped towards the teenager, "What?"

"Wally was taped to the ceiling," She repeated a little louder. "That's why the tape's there."

The slight outline of a person suddenly became more apparent to the older archer. "Why?" He asked a little horrified.

"He went in my room," Artemis answered casually.

"And that warranted him being taped to the ceiling?"

"He went through my dresser."

"That's not that bad," Ollie said. All things considered, he'd done worse as a teenager.

"He went through the underwear drawer in my dresser," Artemis amended.

A small sound of Ollie choking on his saliva reached the kitchen and Flash poked his head through the small space between counter and cabinets. "What's going on?"

GA recovered quickly and pointed an accusatory finger at the man in the red spandex, "Your nephew!"

Flash looked on in confusion, "My nephew what? Is this a knock knock joke or something?"

"Your nephew went through my niece's underwear drawer!" GA explained as he hopped over the back of the couch and towards the kitchen.

_This is going to go downhill fast_, Artemis thought. "I'm not your niece GA! Everyone knows that now."

"You're still my ward!" The green clad man yelled out.

"And you're still overreacting! We already stuck Kid Idiot to the ceiling, isn't that enough?" Artemis defended.

A silence fell over the room and Artemis realized she _defended_ Wally. The same person she helped stick to the ceiling not an hour ago. _Please nobody notice that_, she thought.

A sly smirk slid onto the part of Flash's face not covered by his cowl. "Wally's first panty raid, I'm so proud."

"That's it!" Green Arrow yelled and flung himself through the small space between the cabinets and counters into the kitchen and at Flash.

Artemis sadly shook her head and called out, "I'm leaving, don't hurt each other to much. I don't need a roommate down in Med Bay!" She mustered her strength and started wheeling herself back towards Med Bay.

As she slowly made progress back to the room she found a new respect for her mom. Sure, she already had respect for her mother and how strong she is. But this is one of those you-have-to-be-in-their-shoes types of experiences. Being in a wheelchair was hard and it made Artemis want to have speedster healing. Actually, maybe not. There's still the down side of always having to be shoveling something into your mouth to satisfy that "high metabolism" Wally is _always_ using as his excuse for eating like a pig.

The torturous path back to Med Bay was finally achieved after, goddamn, an _hour_._ At least my stitches are still in tack_, Artemis thought ruefully as she rolled herself next to her bed. There were no nurses around to help her, all having gone home for the night.

With her nerves panging and body screaming in protest, she hoisted herself into a standing position, focusing her weight on her good leg. Scratch that, _better_ leg and only better in comparison. The instant she was standing straight her legs went out on her and she tried grabbing onto the closest thing to her, the bedside table, and that had wheels.

Whatever support she momentarily had was gone the second the table started rolling. On instinct, her grip tightened on the edge as a last attempt for help. As she toppled over the table and its contents went with her. Luckily, the arrows in the quiver didn't go off as they hit the floor and rolled under the bed. The yellow box Wally gave her fell to the ground with a graceless thud, but it too stayed intact.

The cards on the other hand? They scattered across the floor like large pieces of confetti. _I'll just get that later_, Artemis thought through her pain.

After numerous attempts at getting back up she huffed in frustration and pulled the blanket from her bed down to the floor. Thankfully, the edge of the pillow case was just inside her reach. She curled up with both items in place and tried to recover on the sleeping time Rocket stole from her.

_**~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~**_

The Team arrived at the coordinates Batman supplied them. It was ironically for a Swiss bank. KF made sure to point out how stereotypical it seemed. The empty silence where Artemis would usually yell at Wally was deafening. The silence quickly turned necessary as they established a mind link and both Robin and Cheshire snuck in through the air ducts on the roof to wait for the Shadow's arrival.

'It's almost too easy,' Cheshire thought to the Team.

'What do you mean?' Aqualad questioned.

'If you could see my eye roll… What I mean is that the Shadows usually have some sort of set up to make sure no one can sneak in and stop them. There should be alarms going and assassins coming for us by now,' Cheshire amended.

'Don't jinx us yet Chesh,' Wally scolded, 'They just got here.'

'You know the plan,' Kaldur called out with an air of finality.

Robin and Cheshire crawled through the vents to their vantage points on either side of the large main room. Miss Martian was disguised as a regular patron and was waiting in line with Zatanna who was dressed in civilian clothes not all too different from her normal costume. Rocket, Aqualad, Superboy, and Kid Flash were all waiting on the bio-ship waiting for their signal.

The operatives from the Shadows walked in casually, the only tell tale sign of who they were was the bulges of weapons from behind their heavy coats. They didn't even bother with masks.

'It's like they want to get caught,' Zatanna thought over the link.

Everyone's heads were silent of other voices for thirty seconds before Cheshire bursted back in, 'Witch Girl, create a scene. A big one.'

'My _name_ is Zatanna, and _why_?'

'Just do it and thank me later.'

Zatanna huffed out an audible sigh and turned to Miss Martian, who in disguise easily could've been assumed as Zee's mother. "What do you mean I can't get those new Gucci boots!" Zatanna screamed out like a spoiled teenager.

Miss Martian caught on quickly and still looked a little panicked from the sudden outburst. "Sweetie, I thought I explained. You already spent your allowance for the week."

All eyes were on them by now, including the criminal's.

"We're at a bank aren't we? There's money here to buy them!" For good measure the young magician even stomped her heel against the floor.

"Honey, you're causing a scene," Miss M tried frantically, as any mother would. Watching all those old shows finally paid off.

Out of the corner of her eye, Zatanna noticed Cheshire sneaking out of the air duct and towards one of the robbers who was hanging out near the door.

To keep it rolling she yelled, "Why are you such a dictator!? I hate you!"

Cheshire grabbed the robber and dragged him out the front doors. The only thing that drowned out his screech of surprise was the next part of Zatanna's tantrum. _That girl can really go at it_, she thought to herself as she muffled the robber with her hand.

Finally, getting tired of his pointless protests she brought the handle of one of her sais down on his head, effectively knocking him out. A noise of disgust slipped past her lips, "Newbie," She hissed out.

The front door opened again to show a little bird dragging another criminal with him. Zatanna's screeches filtered through the momentary gap of the doors. The man didn't bother with protests like his counterpart did. Although with a better look, the man seemed to be the leader. Just from the dignified and deadly aura that surrounded him.

"Boris," Cheshire hissed out in recognition.

"Ah, Cheshire. How are you on this fine_ traitorous_ day?" Boris put extra emphasis on traitor and made sure to spit near her feet in disgust.

"I'm not a traitor," The masked woman spat out with venom dripping from her words.

"Well what else would you call someone who defends a little blonde hero that's going to die soon anyways?" He taunted.

Robin stopped Cheshire's next verbal strike. "What do you mean soon?"

"Well Pipsqueak," He started off with an extra dose of haughtiness, "Would we be this easy to take out if this was an actual operation?"

The white slits on the boy's mask narrowed in concentration, "What?"

A sharp sound of metal on concrete reached the boy's ears. He whipped his head around to see that Cheshire had dropped her sais in surprise. The older woman had her hands clasped in her hair as a realization hit her like a truck.

"Chesh?" The little bird questioned.

Low muttered words filtered through the air. Too low to hear.

"A little louder please," He urged.

"They're a distraction," She whispered, this time just loud enough to register.

'Guys, we're leaving. Now,' Robin managed as loud as he could through the link.

'Why?' Rocket questioned.

'I'll explain on the bio-ship. But we are leaving. Now.'

'Robin-', Kaldur tried to continue.

'No,' Robin projected, 'We are leaving because we have a friend to save because this whole thing was just a damn distraction!'

That was the end of that and everyone hightailed it to the bio-ship, leaving the robbers to the authorities. Miss M was pushing the bio-ship past its top speed as they tried to get a hold of Flash or Green Arrow. Neither of them answered and according to Batman the zeta tubes were down and all points of entry had been locked from the inside more than an _hour _ago.

Wally was vibrating in his seat by that point, muttering out small "this is not good" type phrases. Everyone else tried to keep poker faces but those were all quickly dissolving.

Nobody could get into the Mountain by force. It was made to keep super villains out. And it sure as hell wasn't budging for super heroes. Batman was trying his best to hack into the place, but every camera transmission was cut and the codes for the doors had been thoroughly thought over when they were made. Whoever was in the Mountain didn't want to be disturbed.

And everyone had agreed on a guess as to whom that _whoever_ was.

_**~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~**_

Artemis felt a pain in her abdomen as she groggily woke up._ I must've rolled onto something_, she thought.

As she tried to shift, she found she couldn't. Her grey eyes flew open. They focused on a booted foot placed right over her stitches with force. When she followed the leg back up to the body and then to the face the sight wasn't pleasant. A cruel, familiar masked face looked down on her like she was a meal.

"Time to finish the job," Sportsmaster growled out at his daughter.

**A/N: Cliffhanger anyone? Sorry it took so long but school is a ****bitch****. When you have all honors classes, are in two clubs, and a play… you don't have much time for writing. Sorry!**

**Just to address one point. Thank you to Mark in Orlando who pointed out that I "forgot" Wally's card. Just to clarify, I did not. I have a plan. A very vicious and cruel plan. But a plan none the less.**

**READ,**_** ENJOY**_**, ****REVIEW****. **


	8. Gambling

Sportsmaster pushed down harder and harder on Artemis's stitches. Needless to say, she struggled worse than an oiled fish out of water. The effort was almost useless though as the sound of ripping thread reached both pairs of ears.

Being ever the one for ruthless and demeaning commentary, Sportsmaster spat out at his daughter, "You were supposed to be my pride and joy, my defining piece that years worth of training would've manifested into. Then you went and became a _hero_. Look where that got you."

"I don't have innocent blood on my hands," Artemis sneered up at the mask, meeting cold eyes with her own.

That at least stopped the further applying of pressure on her injury. "You think that everyone that has a mark on them is _innocent_? Is that what they teach you in Hero School?" His voice becoming rougher and louder in outrage.

"At least they don't teach me how to kill a guy twice my size with a paperclip!" She yelled out, recalling one of the odder instances of training she had to go through.

"Maybe they should. Oh wait, your _precious heroes_ are too _high and mighty_ to kill." He continued forcing his heel further into the archer's injury. "Let's say I don't have too many similarities with those idiots."

Artemis refused to scream or give the man she was sad to call her father any satisfaction out of this. Taking a brief moment out of her torture time, she looked for anything that could help her. There was one tactical advantage, the space under the bed and what was hiding there. The quiver full of an expansive range of weaponry was just at her fingertips, all she had to do was reach.

She caught a quick breath in the moment of relief when Sportsmaster took his heavy boot away. It was something else that caught the brute's attention besides violence. A card. Specifically one with a flash symbol on the front. And the one the actual Flash gave her had flowers on the front. _Oh shit_.

He picked it up and stared at it for a moment before opening it. Artemis took her slim opportunity, it's not like she was going to get another for awhile if anything. She mustered her energy and rolled under the bed, pushing her arrows out on the other side with her.

Still not noticing the smaller blonde's disappearing act, Sportsmaster read the card aloud, "'Dear Arty' This idiot does realize you have a full name, right?" He added his own commentary in before continuing. "'Well, you got shiska-bobbed, but at least you can handle it! You're strong; just remember that while you recover. Just don't say it like a mantra or anything, it'll get old quicker than whelmed did.' What in all living hell is _whelmed_? 'Oh, and just because you're all injured and everything, please don't turn into a slave driver. I've had enough of that with Red. Two bossy archers are enough. Sincerely yours, Kid Flash (aka Kid Awesome!)' This kid needs a proper hit to the head, either that or he's taken to many already."

Her father's words mixed with Wally's almost made her sick. That and the fact that Wally actually said she got shiska-bobbed. If she got out of this confrontation, he was _never_ going to live that down. As he talked, she worked.

Closing up her newly opened and profusely bleeding wound was priority one. Grabbing one of the foam arrows, she cut off part of the top with the help of a regular arrow, careful not to hit the detonator. She was able to extract a fair amount of foam and put it over her wound. It was nowhere near a permanent solution, hell, she would be lucky if it lasted for more than a few minutes. But this entire fight is shaping up to be a big gamble on her part.

There was nothing close to a bow anywhere near her. This is where improvising starts to take an even bigger role. She yanked the rubber band of her long locks and tore it into one long strip with the help of her teeth. Holding one end firmly in her mouth and with the other secure in her left hand, she pulled out an arrow from her quiver. Taking the high and hero road she shot off the knockout gas arrow as the assassin's montage came to a close.

The arrow certainly hit its mark. The only thing that slipped her mind in the moment was the built in air filter for the hockey mask. As she cursed herself out in multiple languages for giving away her position and not even getting anything out of it, she pulled out a net arrow and tried again.

Sportsmaster rounded the corner of the bed his daughter was surely hiding behind as soon as he calculated where that spare shot came from. Another shot out of the green gas came his way. A net by the looks of his new surroundings. He quickly got to work releasing himself from the interwoven ropes.

Artemis knew another opportunity when she saw one. The net wouldn't last long at all. With all the adrenaline pumping through her veins, she hoisted herself up and hobbled over to her wheelchair with her quiver slung over her shoulder and her make-shift excuse for a bow loosely tied around her wrist, careful not to breath in the lingering gas. Walking wasn't the smartest option, so pushing herself around again it is.

The heroine pushed her way through the halls like a bat out of hell. A distinct sound of Sportsmaster bellowing curses made her go faster still.

_Where_ _do you go when you need a way to communicate with anyone outside the mountain? _That was the first and foremost thing on Arty's mind. Well the Leaguers that used to be in the kitchen are crossed out, if help hadn't arrived by now then they must be incapacitated. The archer refused to acknowledge they were dead until she saw the proof herself. And right now, there just wasn't time.

There's the phone in the kitchen. No, too far. Not to mention probably disconnected by now.

Zeta tube? No, help would come by now if that was possible.

Cell phone? Maybe.

As she rolled she mentally kicked herself more times than she could count. Without a living doubt in her mind, she thought any other person on the Team would be out of this situation by now. Hell, Robin would be out in three seconds just by calling in Bats.

That's it! Robin and Bats have a special line just for their communications. And as long as the Mountain wasn't blasted with an EMP signal again, it would work. The only place where an extra communicator would be is Robin's room. Artemis's glimmer of hope died right there. Robin's room was not just locked, but code protected. Taking the biggest gamble so far, she still made her way to the ninja's room and hoped for the best. Luck seemed to be on her side so far, here's to hoping it hasn't dried up just yet.

_**~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~**_

Batman's in-cowl communicator fizzled to life. He was ready for a message from Alfred. Maybe even a message from Robin about how much longer it'll take them to get across the Atlantic. But never would he have bet on Artemis being the one calling him.

"Hey Bats, 'sup?" Her forced-to-seem-casual tone flared through the static.

"Artemis? Are you alright?" He excused himself from the other heroes, even when they tried to listen in he just glared them down until they backed off.

"Just damn dandy, thanks for asking. Well, if you count out my psychotic father hunting me down while I hide in an air vent," Her sarcasm still had bite, yeah, she's still fine.

"Could you tone down the sarcasm and answer seriously?" Batman asked, although it came off as a little more of a demand.

"I'm bleeding through foam here! I'm entitled to sarcasm!" Artemis yelled through the receiver. Half the heroes surrounding the bat didn't even have to have super hearing to know what was said.

Yeah, she's Ollie's protégé alright. "So your stitches broke, Flash and Green Arrow are incapacitated, Sportsmaster is still livid and hunting you down. Anything else you want to add?"

"That pretty much covers it. Well except for the obvious 'Get me the hell out of here before the vents start smelling like dead archer'."

If Batman could facepalm publicly and keep his dignity, that would've been the moment. "We're working on it. And Artemis, how did you get a communicator?"

"I kinda-sorta blew up the Boy Wonder's bedroom door. But I swear I'll clean it up later."

"Alright then," He mentally added property damage to the list of things he needed to tell the Team to not do, "Just stay put for as long as you can. We're trying to figure out a way in currently."

"You know Bats, the situation kinda calls for blowing shit up. Keep that in mind along with the fact that I'm in the training room vents." With that, the blonde signed off.

All the Leaguers assembled outside Mt. Justice looked to Batman for guidance. Superman spoke up first, "Well, do you have a new plan?"

Batman simply answered, "It's time to put Sportsmaster in his place."

The Big Blue Boy Scout didn't stop there, "How?"

A ghost of a smirk flitted across Batman's cowled face, "Explosives and superpowers."

**A/N: Well, I'm feeling very sarcastic this chapter. Next one is probably going to be the last, but don't necessarily count on it. There's not much of the Team in here, but they don't have the most interesting stuff going on with them. *shrugs* Oh well. And the usual I'm sorry for not updating and all that jazz. But I am busy after all, got into another club (oh joy)! **

**Oh! And two little responses I would like to give to some of the anonymous reviewers. Both on two very different ends of courtesy by the way.**

**Ray~ Thank you! You are the first person to claim biggest-fan rights, so they're yours until someone challenges the position. Congrats! *pat on the back for you* But still, it means a lot, whoever you are. Feel free to PM me any day, even if its just a little hello or acknowlegment you're not anonymous anymore.**

**HappyHarborWitch~ Thanks for saying that you love the story and all, but the thanks end there. If you would've pointed out the one month mark with I don't know, a **_**please update,**_** instead of sounding like a stuck up child, then maybe I would've tried to crank out the new chapter that night due to a nice and courteous reminder that could even be found admirable for reminding me in such a fashion. But I guess your name is HappyHarbor**_**Witch**_**for a reason.**

**TO EVERYONE IN GENERAL!~ You know my shitty updating when you came into this story, so finally criticizing me at chapter seven is not gonna fly over here. Any more flames will be used to make virtual personal pizzas and sticky buns for nice and courteous readers. It's four in the morning, I'm logging off and sleeping. Bye for now.**

**READ. **_**ENJOY**_**. ****REVIEW.**


	9. Good-Bye

Artemis nervously fingered with the string of her bow. She silently thanked whatever deity existed for allowing her time to grab her extra bow from her room before dashing to the nearest air vent. _All I have to do is wait to hear the explosion from somewhere in the mountain and then one of the Leaguers will come find me. Right?_ Artemis thought as she kept on with the plucking that seemed to follow right in line with her heartbeat; which is actually worryingly slow once she thought about it, even with the last dredges of adrenaline flowing in her bloodstream.

She shook off any negative thought correlating that and tried to get her mind onto anything else. Her grey eyes darted around the metal air vent she was in. There was scorch marks at an intersection only a foot to her left.

_From when the Reds attacked_, she thought. It's a good memory in retrospect, perfect to keep her thoughts steady on. That was the time she managed to save the Team. The first time she truly felt like she was accepted. Even Wally ended up thanking her for saving his sorry ass. There was also a lot of close calls that day. Robin almost drowning. M'gann and Kaldur almost perishing from the heat. Wally and Conner almost drowning too. And more close calls herself then she could count.

For almost the entire duration of that attack she had Robin alongside her. It was nice to have a partner to work with, one so level headed especially. But when it came straight down to it, she was left alone for the most important part. Just like her situation now. Alone. In a cold vent. Bleeding out slowly. That's just peachy, huh?

Not to mention Artemis was starting to feel tired. Well not exactly tired. She couldn't quite describe it, but her eyelids were starting to droop down and the archer just didn't have enough energy left to put up a fight.

_**~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~**_

All the available Leaguers were surrounding blueprints of the Cave. There were a few acceptable places to put the explosives, but all of them would compromise the structural integrity of the Cave no matter what. That would kill everyone inside. So all those spots were no-go's.

Batman was silently brooding and cursing about letting Martian Manhunter travel back to Mars for a month. Not the best timing. Otherwise the Martian could've density shifted, reversed the coding lock on the entrances, and everything would turn out with a happy ending. He was also cursing out the Flash. Because apparently the fastest man alive also had the densest skull for letting himself become incapacitated in this situation.

Due to Batman's pure fear-factor in that moment most of the Leaguers left him alone to the best of their ability. Superman finally gathered up the guts to approach the big Bat.

The country boy tapped Batman on the shoulder, "The Team is going to be here soon, I can already hear their chatter about a mile and a half away."

The billionaire's head shot up from the blueprints and out in the estimated direction the bio-ship would be coming from. A gloved hand reached up to his cowl and activated his radio. "Robin, the flight bay doors won't be opening. Land somewhere nearby," He deiced as quickly as he could.

"Rodger," Came back the reply.

The bio-ship came into view a second later and landed in the sand of the beach where all the available Leaguers were crowded. As soon as the ramp for exiting the ship was down a certain ginger speedster was right in front of Batman.

Wally made sure to slow down his speech to a recognizable speed, "Please tell me you have a plan."

A stiff shake of a head was his reply.

The spandex clad teen immediately slumped into the sand. He gazed back up at the large man with watery green eyes. "There has to be a way," He begged as if a solution would fall from the sky at any second.

Robin swiftly came up behind Wally and put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. The bird looked at Batman. He silently asked the question, "No progress on explosives?"

The silent reply came back as an intensified glare.

_That would be a no_, Robin thought glumly.

The acrobat was almost hitting his head in frustration. There had to be a way to get in. His masked gaze went back down to the speedster kneeling in the sand. Of course, the way to get in had been sitting right in front of them the entire time.

"Hello, Robin!" He exclaimed in a moment of pure bliss. Behind him M'gann smiled slightly that her little habit caught on. The rest of the Team allowed themselves at least an airy chuckle at their youngest's antics.

Robin dropped down and forced Kid Flash to look at him. "KF!" Robin had to shake the ginger a few times to get his solid attention. "KF, this plan might be crazy, but hear it out. You need to vibrate your molecules to get into the mountain."

The speedster cocked his head to the side, "Dude, you know I can't do it. Whenever I try I get a nosebleed and usually get stuck halfway through the wall."

Jade whapped Wally upside the head quicker than he could say 'pizza'. "Don't be such a pessimist. You're the only way to save my sister."

Wally looked up at her. "But-," He was about to protest.

That infuriated the female ninja even more. "No buts! Get your ass in gear and vibrating through that wall before I have to _make _you!"

All of his teammates looked at him in complete confidence that he could do it. They were like a family. Losing one of their family would mean their group wouldn't be whole anymore. _I have to try_, Wally thought to himself. That got an unintentional smile out of M'gann.

Kid Flash stood up in a way that would make even the most experienced speedster jealous. He looked at Batman with a new determination, although slightly mixed with fear. "Where's the best place to enter through?"

Batman had been watching the entire interaction in silence. He would've thought that Wally would've been more eager to go save Artemis. Then the realization hit him like a brick wall. No one knows what to expect inside that mountain. They hadn't had contact with Artemis in more than fifteen minutes. Everyone there knew how much of a difference that time could make.

The blueprint was shown to the young speedster. They had a good idea of where Artemis was in the vents, so they had a good idea of where Wally should enter.

A plan was quickly hashed out. Wally would be linked up to everyone via Miss Martian and would bring in a chip to destroy the codes keeping the doors locked. He would place the chip in the central computer then find Artemis. Plain and simple.

Wally aligned himself with the wall by which he would enter into the Cave. "Here goes nothing," He muttered and started vibrating. He kept pushing his molecules to move faster until he was finally confident enough to push his hand through the wall. It was working, but slowly. He progressed bit by bit. Limb by limb, until he was finally standing inside the training room. But sure enough, his nose was starting to bleed, and badly. "Well that's just freakin' dandy," He mumbled, slightly irritated.

He wiped the flowing blood on his sleeve and started speeding to the control room. Once he was there the mental instructions Robin gave him for installing the chip was a breeze. Now there was only one task left.

That was when the sound of the zeta tubes activating was thrown to his ears. The call flooded the mountain and left a deafening silence in its wake.

**Recognized: Artemis B07. Guest.**

_Guest. _There's only one person that could be considered a guest at the mountain, considering Jade got an identification designation half a week ago. Sportsmaster.

Wally charged for the zeta tubes in hope of catching them before they powered down. He got there just in time to see Sportsmaster leave with blood all over him. Then the speedster's eyes flickered to the base of the zeta tube. There was Artemis, lying face down in a puddle of blood, most likely her own. Her hair was loose and flitting around her back carelessly, slowly soaking up the blood.

"No, no, no," Kid Flash whispered with increasing volume. He sprinted up to her and kneeled by her side. He turned her over with care.

Artemis's blood stained face was a sight to take in by itself. But her next breath, albeit shallow at best, was enough to give Wally slight hope.

"C'mon Arty, it's gonna be alright," He begged her to open her eyes, say something, mainly just to keep breathing.

Her grey orbs opened just enough to get a gaze of fiery red hair, emerald green eyes, the bright yellow of spandex, and a nose pouring out a stark shade of red blood. "Hey Baywatch?" She forced out.

"Y-Yeah?" He asked on a shaky breath of his own.

"You're bleeding," She pointed out with her own version of care seeping into her voice.

"Oh," He chuckled with mirth, "Yeah, I am."

"I'm sorry." She went on immediately and unexpectedly to Wally, "And don't get yourself duct taped to another roof while I'm gone," She muttered, only just audible.

"Wh- Gone?" He was fighting tears, trying not to give in to what Artemis really meant.

"Mm-hmm," The blonde hummed out. "_Try _not to do anything stupid."

"How's that supposed to happen when you're not here to keep me in check?" He dislodged a lump in his throat. It came out as a pitiful sob.

"You'll figure it out," A small smirk tugged at the edge of her lips. She let her eyes close one more time, trying to savor the one last glance at the only guy she could stand enough to date. Although she was too stupid to admit it earlier. "Bye, Wally."

Wally wiped the blood from her forehead and placed a shaky kiss there. "Bye, Arty."

With that her spirit was gone from the world. He finally let himself dissolve into sobs and tears.

**A/N: Yup, that's how I'm ending it (I was actually going to do a different ending, but chose not to. Arty still died in the end though). I think both versions have been the saddest things I've ever written. Gah, this is why I write humor usually! All this sadness makes me want to curl up on my bed and cry into a pillow while watching Birds of Prey. Mainly because I had to read so many sad things and listen to so many sad songs just to get into a mood where I could write this. I blame the band Imagine Dragons, specifically their song Demons. It killed me, unofficially.**

**PLEASE READ! IMPORTANT!: I'm going to make an epilogue. And maybe a story taking place after the epilogue but still tying into this story if I feel inclined to. That made no sense, huh? With the epilogue I want you guys to vote! YOU EITHER CHOOSE THE CATEGORY "GAS" OR "HOOD". THIS IS IMPORTANT, PLEASE VOTE! I'm going to be working on both and which ever one has the most votes by the end of the 21st (Friday) in my time will be posted. Kay? Glad that's settled.**

**Thanks to Mark in Orlando for giving me the idea for Wally to overcome vibrating his molecules. Probably couldn't have come up with this last chapter without that last tidbit. Thank you Mark! **

**Alright, I love seeing your reviews, so please review. It actually brightens my day, even with a super sad ending.**


	10. Epilouge

**A/N: Just a quick little thing, major italics means a memory. You'll get why in a little bit. And bear with the sadness, I swear you'll like the ending or your read back! I don't think I can give you your read back, but you know what I mean…**

Wally was found five minutes later clutching Artemis to his chest and crying into her hair. His tears slowly washed away the blood staining her usually golden locks.

Robin was the first to arrive on the scene. "Oh no," The Boy Wonder practically whimpered out. The ebony headed teen slowly approached Wally and the assumed to be corpse of Artemis. "Wally… Please, is she…?" Robin trailed off, not wanting to confirm his worst fears just yet.

Kid Flash gave no indication one way or the other, and in Robin's opinion, that's the worst way to answer.

"Wally…Wally, please, you have to let her go…" The little bird pleaded. Hugging a dead body is not the way he wanted to remember his best friend for a while.

"I-I can't," Came the broken reply.

"You have to, Walls, just…please. You have to try to let her go."

That broke Wally out of his trance, "_'I have to try'_, huh? Look how well that worked last time!" Furious green eyes met masked blue ones.

Robin would've flinched had he been anyone else. "Wally…I'm sorry-"

The speedster cut him off, "Yeah, everyone's sorry. Even Artemis is," Wally took a moment to correct himself, "_Was_."

Batman chose that moment to step in. Any later and it would've resulted in either a brawl or a flooding of the Mountain due to tears. "Kid Flash, Robin, go to the briefing room."

Wally was about to protest but realized how fruitless that would be. So he relinquished his hold on Artemis's body and slowly followed Robin to the briefing room.

The bat crouched down next to Artemis's body. From a quick examination it showed cause of death to be blood loss. There were also multiple injuries besides the ones that were last logged in the Med Bay. There was a deep cut in her shoulder that looked to be from a standard issue serrated hunting knife, something that could be gotten at any sports store in the country. Her stitches were viciously broken and a distinctive patterning of pink around the wound referenced to the foam the archer previously mentioned. There was also the beginning of bruises around her wrists, like she was held by a strong grip. The bruises forming on her back supported the theory that she was dragged over to her place of death. Sportsmaster used her to activate the zeta beams so he could cleanly get away. Sportsmaster was cruel with this encounter with his daughter, which was nothing less than expected. With a quick snap his black cape was off and being draped over Artemis's body, nobody needed to see that currently.

Batman cringed internally and began looking for where Artemis was dragged from. He needed all the facts for this case. He traced small blood patterns back to the training room and then up the wall to vent, which was open. Inside he could see the pooling of a large amount of blood. The foam covering her wound must not have lasted long at all. There was also a green quiver and compound bow sitting in the vent, both on their sides. Did the archer not put up a fight? The caped crusader cringed away again and went to the briefing room, where all of the Team and all of the Leaguers who were previously waiting outside were. Superman and Superboy had also brought Green Arrow and Flash in from the kitchen, where their unconscious, but alive, bodies were found.

The phrase _time to face the music_ would fit, if it weren't so deathly silent in the briefing room. Everyone made the correct assumption the second a glum looking, blood coated Wally entered the briefing room with a little bird right on his tail.

Jade approached the Bat first and just stared at him with her jaw set tight. The ex-assassin looked torn between slapping the hero or leaving the room entirely. The feline female finally looked to the side and whispered, "Just tell me we're going to get him."

"We're going to get him, that's for sure," Black Canary piped up from the edge of the room where she was sitting next to Green Arrow's unconscious body.

"Agreed," Came a somber chorus from throughout the room.

"Well, what do we do now?" M'gann asked in between sniffles.

Batman hung his head, "We're going to hold a funeral, _then_ we search for Sporstmaster."

_**~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~**_

The Team was flooded with memories as they sat in the Watchtower for Artemis's funeral three days later. This was the funeral for her hero side, where all open comments could be shared. Later, a funeral for anyone who knew Artemis as a civilian would be held.

Robin refused to wear sunglasses to the funeral and Batman accepted that. So most everyone on the Team but Wally and Roy were confused as to whom the blue-eyed boy with the slicked back hair was, well, until said boy used the words "not feeling the aster". That helped piece the puzzle together pretty quickly. Then the other pieces fell into place about Batman and Robin's identities. Suddenly, Jade wasn't so surprised about why her mother called Batman "Brucie".

Everyone was in their seats looking forward where Bruce Wayne stood in front of a podium. "We lost a good fighter, but a better person. Artemis was inarguably one of the most determined people in the business as she tried to prove herself worthy of hero status." Small mumbles of agreements washed through the crowd of heroes. "We will never forget her and what she's accomplished." With that Batman stepped off the stand and allowed the next person to take their turn.

Green Arrow, now Oliver Queen, stepped up next. "It's weird. One second you can have a conversation with someone about speedsters being taped to ceilings," Everyone stole a glance at Wally, "The next you end up speaking at their funeral. I wish more could've been done. I just hope I can continue living with a mindset Artemis helped set up within me. Let there never be a dull moment, the memories suck otherwise."

A last few people went up to speak, saying positive things about Artemis the entire time. It was awkward when Flash went up because he spoke to fast for anyone to understand. It took three tries to get it to a relatively normal speed.

The service had been held so now everyone was milling around and chitchatting. Wally refused to touch the food at the snack table, he instead chose to sit at a seat in the back of the now empty rows of chairs and be caught in a blissful memory before Artemis was ever impaled in the first place.

_"Put that chicken leg down right now, KFC!" Artemis yelled at Kid Flash as he made a dash for the last piece of the bucket._

_"Freedom for chickens everywhere! Eat beef!" The speedster yelled before running off with the leg clutched in his teeth._

_A yell followed him down the hall, "That makes no sense! You're eating chicken right now, Kid Idiot!"_

_Wally popped back up in the kitchen just long enough to throw the chicken bone away in the trash. "Doesn't have to, Harpy," He smirked, "All that matters is that I got the last piece." _

_He laughed as he ran away with threats of where he could specifically find arrows when he woke up in the morning. Never had fried chicken tasted so good._

The speedster let a whimsical smile slip onto his face. His first smile in days. It felt right to try and smile again; he would need to smile someday.

Zatanna slipped into the seat next to him with a plateful of saltine crackers on her lap. "Want some?" She offered, well knowing the speedster had barely touched any form of edible substance lately.

Wally shook his head no. "Nah, I'll eat later."

The magician shook her head sadly, "That's been your excuse for the past _three_ days Wally."

"Well it's true," He defended, "I will have to eat sometime, just _later_."

"Yeah right," She muttered and started nibbling on another cracker. She resisted the urge to shove the crackers into his hands and magically glue him to the chair until the plate was empty. But that'd look bad, plus it would be really hard to explain while sounding remotely sane.

Zatanna herself got caught up in a memory while sitting there in silence. It was right when she moved to the mountain after her dad donned the Helmet of Fate.

_A loud knock resounded on the metal door, which Zatanna had locked so she could get some time to cry by herself. The ebony headed teen never got up from her place on the bed, even after the knocks continued and got louder._

_Finally the person seemed to give up and stopped knocking. Well, that was until they started yelling, "Open up this door before I break it!" Came an aggravated voice on the other side._

_"Go away, Artemis!" Zatanna bit back her sobs so the command would be understandable._

_"Nope! Well I hope you're decent or this is going to get really awkward in three seconds," Artemis spoke through the door._

_"Three sec-?" Zatanna was cut off by her door suddenly having a new boot print in the surface. Then another, and another. "Alright, alright! Just quit trying to kick down my door!" Zatanna ran to the door before Artemis could leave yet another indent in her wake._

_The door opened to Artemis standing there with her arms crossed, "I told you I was going to break your door if you didn't open it."_

_"Lesson learned," Zee mumbled. She cleared her throat and looked the archer in the face, "What do you want?"_

_"Well, the feeling-sorry-for-yourself-club was getting a little full in your room so I wanted to know if you wanted to watch a movie with us," The archer offered._

_"A movie?" The young magician had typically been sheltered by her father, so watching a movie with friends wasn't something she was used to._

_"Yes, those things that usually center around the genres comedy, horror, etcetera and so on. Typically around ninety minutes long. Best seen with popcorn and friends," The blonde smiled at the last part, trying to make sure Zatanna knew they were all friends here._

_Zatanna wiped the last remains of tears off her cheeks and smiled back at Artemis, "I'd love to, thanks." For the first time, Zatanna felt included. And it felt…nice._

Roy made his presence known to the two younger teens with a loud clearing of his throat. They jumped slightly and looked at him for what he wanted. "Can I join you?" The older ginger asked.

"Yeah, of course," Zatanna answered as Wally stared at Roy for a moment. No one could guess what was going through his head at that moment.

Roy turned a chair from the row ahead of Zatanna and Wally backwards so he could face them. Both were clearly not talkative types today, so he himself got caught in a memory.

It was when he first saw Artemis practicing at the range in Ollie's backyard.

_Roy was on a mission. Well, a personal one. All he wanted to do was grab some of the stuff he left at the mansion while Oliver was still at work. He would've gotten away with pulling the stealth card if he hadn't paid attention to the clear _whaps_ of an arrow sinking into a target._

_So of course, his blue eyes flitted to his window, where a clear view of the archery range was shown. And there, none other than the newest addition to the Emerald Archer legacy stood._

_Instead of keeping his cool and just leaving the house, he trudged out to the range and yelled out at the girl, "What do you think you're doing?"_

_She didn't so much as flinch in surprise as the next arrow was released into a target one hundred feet away. "I'm practicing, what the hell do you think you're doing?"_

_"Excuse me?" The ginger was slightly flabbergasted by the bluntness of the teen. He had only met her once before in the Cave, but he assumed she was putting on a show for the others then. Apparently she acted like this 24/7. No wonder even _Wally _didn't hit on her._

_"You're excused," She tossed out while readying another arrow._

_Roy, ever known for his short temper, was fed up at that point, "Who do you think you are!?"_

_"I'm Artemis," She bluntly answered before tacking on, "Is your brain the size of a pea, 'cause we covered this yesterday."_

_The elder archer stood there for a moment before finally spitting out, "Just remember that you don't belong on that team."He swiveled on his heel to leave, but her reply stopped him._

_"I'll be waiting for the day you admit you're wrong about that," The smirk on her face showed through in her voice. She was determined to make a place for herself, Roy had to give her that much._

Roy let a somber chuckle roll off his lips. Artemis certainly went out of her way to prove him wrong, that's for sure.

During Roy's period of reminiscing, the rest of the Team had finished the little circle, arranging chairs as they saw fit. Jade sat to his left and squeezed Roy's hand as means of comfort. Whether it was for her or for him, he didn't know.

"This doesn't feel right, Artemis being gone," M'gann whispered to the group in general. She then admitted, "I woke up early this morning and heard noises from the kitchen; I thought it was Artemis making breakfast like she does when she sleeps at the Mountain. Turns out it was just Wolf getting into the pantry. It just _doesn't_ feel right."

"No, but we cannot let that get us down. We will honor Artemis more by continuing on rather than sitting and reminiscing," Kaldur provided a small mean of comfort as usual.

"About that," Wally piped up, "I-I want to quit the Team."

Everyone looked at him in silent shock. Conner broke the silence with his usual bluntness, "Why?"

"It just doesn't feel right anymore. I'm sorry, but not having Arty there to save my ass on missions, or from the rabid moldy food we never threw out. It just doesn't feel _right_," He motioned to M'gann, "You got it on the nail, Megs, it doesn't feel right at all."

M'gann looked at Wally, slowly thinking of what to say next, "I didn't mean to make you want to quit, Wally. You're a part of the family."

Wally sadly shook his head, "It's not your fault, I've been mulling this over for days now. It's my choice guys."

Dick, who sat next to Wally, patted his shoulder, "Are you quitting it all? Working with the Flash, being Kid Flash, being a hero?"

"Yeah, I am," He admitted, "No superspeed except for finishing essays and getting to the brownies first."

Raquel wrinkled her nose, "That's stupid, but I'm in no position to stop you."

Kaldur spoke up for everyone, "None of us can change your mind, Wally. But know you will always be welcomed back if you wish."

"Thanks, Kal, but I think my decision's final," Wally concluded with a sigh.

_**~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~**_

Artemis's civilian funeral followed the next day. The story was that Artemis was mugged, which didn't explain her disappearance for her time at the Cave, but it was the best they could do. Her few friends from Gotham Academy showed up; Barbra Gordon, Bette Kane, and Dick Grayson. Sadly, Artemis hadn't lived long enough to know that Dick was her friend in both aspects of her life.

Artemis's mother and Jade were there also. A few people from their old neighborhood, some of Artemis's old friends from Gotham North High and so on. The attendees still totaled fewer than twenty people. The archer hadn't known many people, but the ones she did, she made an impact on.

Dick shared the story of how he first "introduced" himself on Artemis's first day at Gotham Academy, with Bette cutting in occasionally. Barbra told of when she tried to get Artemis to join the cheerleading squad as a joke, all of the blonde's old friends from Gotham North laughed ridiculously at that. The image of Artemis in a cheerleading outfit made most of the processional crack up.

As Artemis's closed coffin was lowered into the ground, no one noticed the swish of blonde hair run away from fifty feet behind.

_**~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~**_

_Two Years Later_

News reached the hero world of Sportsmaster's death. The League wasn't able to track him down no matter how hard they tried. But someone apparently had enough of a vengeance to stay determined every day to find him. Vengeance and revenge were obvious fuel for the murder fire due to how the burly man died. There was a knife stuck in his chest with green ribbon loosely tied around the hilt. That was marked off as a call sign at first, until no one ever struck like that again. To this day, his murderer runs free. Not that the League is all too motivated to start searching for said murderer.

_**~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~HbaT~**_

_Four Years Later_

_(Yes, two time skips just happened. You can deal.)_

Nightwing was patrolling Gotham so Batman would finally get some sleep. It was a pain in the ass because Red Hood just had to make an appearance tonight. He was causing his general brand of mayhem down by Joker's current hideout. Yes, Nightwing was aware of who was under the "hood". And no, that didn't make him anymore eager to deal with Jason tonight. After all, since it was past midnight, it was the anniversary of Artemis's death and he had plans with the old Team to go visit her grave later that day. Some sleep somewhere in there would be nice.

The older vigilante's comm. produced a little static before Batgirl's voice came over the device, "Two-Face just decided it would be fun to blow up a bank. Can you take Red on your own or do you want me to send Robin over?"

"Nah, I got this," Nightwing confirmed.

"Feeling the aster and all that?" Batgirl asked

"More like all that, I just want the night to be over. Can we send a formal letter to the villains tomorrow and ask for the night off?"

"Very funny, but crime never sleeps, 'Wing."

"I get this speech enough from Bats," Nightwing complained as he closed in on Joker's hideout.

"Apparently not. Have fun," With that Batgirl signed off to go deal with her own villain.

The closer the masked vigilante got, the more prominent the sounds of fighting already were. Hood tended to stir up an extra amount of chaos when Joker was involved. At this rate, Dick will never sleep again.

When Nightwing crept in a top window of the stereotypical warehouse hideout he noticed Red Hood wasn't fighting alone. There was a woman with him. She was decked out in orange and black with a mask resembling a tiger covering the majority of her face. The woman also had shoulder blade length hair that looked like a familiar shade of blonde that he just couldn't place right now.

Then the woman spoke, more like yelled, at Red Hood, "We need to get out of here Hood, vigilantes are going to come barging in soon."

That made Nightwing's heart skip a beat. Her voice seemed so familiar, he just couldn't place it, same as the hair.

"Yeah, yeah, Kitten. We'll be out of here soon," Red Hood answered back.

"I'm not a damn kitten. For the last time it's Tigress," The harsh reply made Nightwing cringe, and he was all the way in the rafters. At least Mystery Woman had a name now.

Deciding to break up the party, Nightwing jumped down from the rafters and used one of the last henchmen as a landing pad.

A stark clap came from his left, where Red Hood was. The last of the henchman lying at his feet.

"I'd give that a seven, scratch that. An eight, I'm feeling generous tonight," Hood was ever the one for commentary.

"Like you could do any better," Nightwing challenged.

"From one former Wonder Boy to another, I'd win."

"Y'know, how about we just call it a night here and you can go turn yourself into the cops with your friend," 'Wing motioned to Tigress, "It'll save me a lot of trouble."

Hood fake-thought it over for a second, "Nah, and she's your friend too. I just don't think you've seen her in a while." Hood's slightly-insane laughter boomed through the empty warehouse.

Nightwing felt like he'd just been told a joke missing the punch line.

Tigress stepped towards Hood, "Let's just get out of here Jay, it's better to leave the situation how it is."

So Tigress knows that it's Jason Todd underneath the hood? That's interesting considering Jason doesn't easily trust people, especially after his _incident_.

"Nah," Hood waved her off and turned back to Nightwing, "C'mon, you can figure this out. It's been six years to the day…" The anti-hero trailed off, leaving the obvious clue hanging.

The whites of the vigilante's mask visibly widened as he looked at Tigress. Everything clicked into place. The blonde hair, the voice, and upon further examination her grey eyes and skin tone.

"But-That's not possible," Nightwing spouted out, "I went to _both_ of your funerals, I _saw _your dead body, _you were dead_."

Hood whapped his older "brother" on the back of the head, "Should it be impossible that I'm standing here too? Wait, don't answer that. Just blame the Lazarus Pit."

Tigress, no _Artemis_, addressed Dick for the first time in five long years, "We can laugh about that picture now, Boy Wonder."

The same old smirk on her face made Dick's lips instantly curl into a smile.

**A/N: SEE! SHE IS ALIVE! Twist ending anyone? I didn't really want Arty dead (especially after the reactions it got. For the love of sweet buns you guys were upset), so for either epilogue, she is alive in the end. In the gas category it would've been that Wally had gotten hit with fear gas when he entered the Mountain and Artemis never actually died. Just thought I should tell you what the other option would've been. Well, do you guys hate me less now? 'Cause I saw the reviews (I read them all) and a lot of you said it made you really sad….. I'M SORRY! Blame the idea fairy, she gave me this. **

**This is the official end of Hanging by a Thread. To think that I wrote the first chapter as a one-shot for Spitfire week on deviantArt. Back then, I never even intended to make it into a multi-chapter. But look how that turned out. So I bid adieu to my first multi-chapter story ever made. I'm kinda sad it's officially over. I know it had to end sometime, but I didn't expect it to quite feel like this. **

**I'm considering doing a correlating story to this, with Artemis as an anti-hero with Red Hood, so tell me if you'd be interested. 'Cause then you also get to see the rest of the Team's reactions to Artemis actually being alive!**

**Thank you to all you faithful readers and reviewers. Thank you to all you favoriters and followers. Thank you even to the people who bothered to give this story a shot. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. All I ask of you is that if you read this last chapter and followed the story to its end, that you leave a review. That is my one request for you all.**


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